Iron Stratos
by Kratos1989
Summary: Infinite Stratos (IS) has been considered as the ultimate weapon known to the world. But when several unknown units started appearing, Orimura Ichika will experience first hand if someone has come to challenge that strength. My own Original Character, in an alternate universe. After Volume 7. Possible Integration of Volume 8 onwards. Rated T for some cursing.
1. Prologue: The Report

**Prologue:**

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**Report on Unknown Units, delivered to the associated governments 2 weeks after Middle Eastern Border Attacks.**

Information is insufficient to make a conclusive judgement regarding the mysterious units that have appeared at various locations all over the world for the past few days. All attempts to learn more have yielded no success at this point in time, however much could be gathered based on the brief observations that have been made.

The units' designs seem to resemble that of IS units; however they differed greatly from the ones we are familiar with. Typical IS designs consists of armored limbs and the occasional torso or visor to protect the pilots. These units however seem to adopt a more stream-lined and 'covered' approach, meaning the entire body is covered up in smooth armor platings, protecting the pilots from any attacks that would normally work on the weak spots found in IS, while ensuring their identities remain unnoticed.

Each unit varies in both style and weaponry to give a somewhat 'symbolic' reference to their nature. Common features include possible repulsion thrusters located on the arms and legs, and a possible chest mounted power source. They have demonstrated high capabilities in different aspects of combat, and have shown great proficiency in hit-and-run tactics used during their brief periods in combat.

Attempts to communicate with them have failed as they did not reply to any of the responses sent out to them. The most recent attempt had two known IS Representatives of Canada and Ireland giving chase to capture it, but they ended up getting beaten and grounded for several hours while it got away. Efforts made to track them are futile as they seemed to emit some type of Disruption Wave to jam all known signals, thus making them effectively invisible on radar and other tracking equipment. We believed the source of the Disruption Wave may be from the particles that were seen emitting from the back of some of the units.

Given the very limited information available at this time our current theory (which is subject to change as more information comes to light) is that the units were built by an outside party who has gained significant knowledge in building IS units, and for some unknown reason, deployed them to locations known for unrest and possible hotspots for major crimes, such as drug trafficking, smuggling, etc.

Whatever their origins they may be, what is known is that the first unit appeared in Israel during the Middle Eastern border attacks. This unit, codenamed as 'Blue', was equipped with merely a huge blade attached to its right arm and a shield, a somewhat odd choice given the IS Representative of Israel present was equipped with the Railgun rifle and missiles capable of levelling a small town. Nevertheless, Blue was able to halt the border attacks while handling the Representative with ease, before retreating to the sky.

The second unit appeared a couple of days later in the Amazon rain forest, where a Mexican cartel was smuggling children and weapons into the country. This unit, 'Green', was equipped with a high pulse rifle that was able to take down many of the cartel's weaponry, and small shield bits that protected it from the random gun fire and missiles in its path. It only left after the local guards were alerted to its presence and came to investigate.

The third and fourth units that appeared 4 days after the Amazon incident, went to South China sea where there was a fire fight erupting from the disputes over the fishing grounds by China and Vietnam. The third unit, codenamed "Buster" for the amount of artillery it carries, took out any ground to air missiles in its way, giving the fourth unit, codenamed 'Abyss' for its ability to move underwater, to take out the ships from underneath.

The fifth unit, dubbed 'Raptor' for its speed in aerial combat, appeared over South Dakota where there was a terrorist cell attempting to detonate a nuclear device that could wipe out half the state. It completely overwhelmed them, then took the device to a nearby ravine and dropped it there before blowing the surrounding cliffs around it, thus detonating the bomb without too much fallout, before proceeding to leave the area.

This time however, due to the previous incidents, the IS council had saw it fit to send the 2 representatives to chase after it. It is possible that of all the units that have appeared, this unit is the strongest and the fastest of the units, as it has displayed extreme mobility and maneuverability that is impossible even with current IS models. The IS Representatives engaged in a lengthy dogfight with 'Raptor' with the aid of several F-22s. However, 'Raptor' managed to take down the jets, and within the hour, damaged the IS units enough to force them to be grounded, before flying away to the east.

Though they have yet to reappear as of late, what was perhaps most astonishing was the fact the units demonstrated the capacity to take on IS Units and take out various crime syndicates that have eluded law enforcers, all while holding back in order to ensure no fatalities.

As of now, the IS Council has yet to discover who is responsible for these units. There is a high possibility that Shinonono Tabane, the IS Inventor, could be the one who built these units. There is also the smallest of chances that someone else with the proficiency to understand the functionality and the secrets behind the IS core, built them and sent them out. Whoever it is, the purpose for sending them out has yet to be determined.

All governments are hereby requested to brief their Representatives on the situation and prepare for possible attacks to come. Also, as a precaution, a message has been sent to the IS Academy to alert the officers and especially Chifuyu Orimura, to be vigilant in the event these units are to appear near Japan.

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**Author's Notes:**

Yo, this is a small chapter of Infinite Stratos in an Alternate Universe.

Quite honestly, I was not really expecting to write this. I was still having a bit of writer's block for "A Certain '8th Level 5', and a friend kept pestering me to try something else. So out of desperation in getting new ideas (while also to appease the guy's insistence), I just wrote this bit. In the end, it did help me out of my block, so I am resuming writing the chapters for the TaMI fanfic.

If you guys want me to continue with this one, I guess I could try it after I deal with the first one.

Now, as for my friend (Adopt tone of a certain Level 5):

"Oh, _Alee-xander-kunnnn!_"

**"Khuhahahaha!"**


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**

**Hey guys, here's the first chapter for Iron Stratos.**

**Quite honestly, I did not expect people to want to read this, if you have read my notes at the bottom of prologue, I only started this because of writer's block and my friend's persistence. But since people want me to write it, so be it. I will write this in between writer's block for TaMi fanfic.**

**Without further ado, let's start the chapter!**

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**=Chapter Start=**

Part 1

Orimura Ichika sighed as he laid his head on the table, thankful that the desk was made of a metallic alloy that kept cool even in warm weather, thus retaining enough coolness to relieve his aching head that had plagued him since this morning. He was currently hiding out in the Student Council Room, with the windows open to let the sea breeze in. It was comforting to have the gentle breeze in the room and the soft sounds of the ocean nearby; he would not mind taking a quick nap here if not for the blasted paperwork in front of him.

The reason for him hiding was because of the major fiasco that started the moment he woke up. Ever since Sarashiki Tatenashi left the IS Academy to return to Russia for her IS repairs, Laura has been trying to sneak into his room every night despite his best efforts to lock up the windows, lock and block the door with a chair, and even tape up any nook and cranny that might suggest an opening. To his absolute embarrassment, he always ended up waking to the sight of a naked Laura curled up on his bed.

For that morning, he had to wake up to the sight of a naked Laura at his side and a pissed-off duo in the form of Houki and Charlotte. It took him roughly half an hour to run away before he could get to the classroom on time, only to be scolded by his sister in front of everyone and made to clean out the classroom for the next two days. After the lesson, he got hounded by Cecilia and Rin over where he would be eating his lunch.

That wasn't the only issue. Since Tatenashi needed to leave, as her personal maid, Utsuho Nohotoke went along with her to facilitate the IS repairs and tend to her needs, thus leaving him and her sister to effectively handle any of council's paperwork. That being said, he was pretty much the only person dealing with it, since the silly girl was going around taking naps and making a fuss.

Ichika sighed as he turned his head to the side. At least he had the comfort of being inside a quiet room without anyone bothering. Apart from the teachers, no one was to be allowed inside, so he could relax without the girls barging in and trying to hit him for whatever reason they think he was in the wrong in. And if the '**_JiangJun_**' (1) did not come inside the room, he should be safe.

"You were thinking something rude, weren't you?"

**_"Smack!"_**

A voice followed by a smack in the head made Ichika sit straight up in his seat, nearly falling backwards from the momentum. In front of his desk stood his sister, Chifuyu Orimura, set with her famous frown as her default expression. She was carrying a small stack of documents under her arm and had the other hand placed on her hip.

"Seriously Orimura, do you intend to be a neet when you graduate?" Chifuyu asked while tapping her feet in annoyance. "No, I do not want that, Chifuyu-ne.. I mean Orimura sensei!" Ichika quickly changed the calling under the intensity of Chifuyu's glare. As the teacher of ISA Academy, she was very strict about the rules, and she made it very clear that everyone should address her as Orimura Sensei.

"So why are you here? I thought you were at a meeting." Ichika asked while reshuffling the paperwork to make room for her to lay her stuff down. "I was at a meeting, one that took a lot longer than needed." Chifuyu sighed while shaking her head. "Honestly, all these meetings are getting too frequent for us to get any work done."

Ichika nodded to show his sympathy. For the past few days, the teachers had been getting involved with sudden meetings, some which took up the whole day. Because of that, most of the students were asked to do maintenance on their individual units, or like Ichika whose unit was damaged, either continue repairs or help out with other areas. For his case, he was effectively the one in charge, not that was helpful, since he was still under the "Loaning of Orimura Ichika to Every Club" (_Honestly, what was with the naming?_), so every club was clamouring for him to come to them. It was only thanks to Chifuyu's "lecture" then they more or less got themselves organized, thus having a waiting list.

Chifuyu continued talking, unaware of the thoughts in his head. "But this time round, something turned up that required every one of us involved in IS Academy. Seems like some big-shot is coming over to Japan for a while, and that person wanted to visit IS Academy along the way. Not to mention there are others who are tagging along for the ride."

'Honestly, such a pain' She added without reserve.

Ichika quirked an eyebrow at her blatant remark about the person visiting. Only she could say that about someone without some form of consequence, being one of the strongest IS fighters around. Really, he would not be surprised if she were to say something that rude right in the IS Council's face, and be able to get away with it.

**"SMACK!"**

"OUCH! What was that for?" Ichika rubbed his head while wincing. "You were thinking rude thoughts again" Chifuyu waved her attendance file up and down while saying that. Honestly, what was with the women around him?! Every single one of them seemed to know what goes through his mind! Maybe he ought to consider getting some microchip to block out his thoughts, because at this rate he was going to suffer big time!

"So I guess the meeting is wrapped up more or less?" Ichika asked carefully. "Well almost" Chifuyu gave another sigh of tiredness. "We were just discussing about the security for the visit before the break. Last thing we need is a repeat of Phantom Task or the Golems attacking us while the big-shots come around."

Ichika frowned at that thought, being reminded of those attacks. Phantom Task had not appeared for quite some time, not that he was not grateful for that happening, but not hearing any news put a bit of strain on him, making him feel he needed to watch his back at every turn. Not to mention the fact that those Black Golems attacked the academy twice for some mysterious reason known only to the person who sent them.

His expression must have appeared on his face, as Chifuyu placed a hand on his head gently. "Honestly, stop worrying about it." Chifuyu ruffled his hair a little, displaying a rarely seen comforting smile on her face. "You should worry more about finishing this paperwork, from what I heard, you are pretty much doing this whole thing on your own." Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow while saying that. "Yeah, since the top 2 members are in Russia, while the other one is not helping much." _'Most like taking a nap_', Ichika thought privately.

"Well, better hang in there." Chifuyu turned to walk towards the door. "If that matter of the big-shot gets finalized, you will be getting a lot more paperwork within the hour" Chifuyu smiled at the sight of Ichika slumping on the desk at the thought of having more paperwork. At the rate he was going, he would need to pull of an all-nighter before he can be cleared of it. "Well then, see you later" Chifuyu said as she opened the door to walk out.

Ichika sighed while raising his hand wearily. He was so going to need some extra strong caffeine for this, and maybe some aspirin to help sleep better. As he got up, he heard a clatter and turned to see a document slipped out of Chifuyu's arm and hit the floor.

"Ah, you dropped something" Ichika took a glance as he picked up the document. It seemed to be an official document regarding certain incidents occurring roughly 2 weeks ago, but the thing that attracted his eye the most was the photo attached to it. It showed what looked like an IS Unit speeding away to the sky, but the design was rather peculiar.

His initial thought was whether it had something to do with the black Golems that had attacked IS Academy. But a quick glance cleared that doubt; the black Golems were threatening and, well, 'black', and their designs was that of overwhelming strength and fear inducement. The one in photo was totally their opposite; this unit was coloured military-grey with shades of green, and had a jet pack with wings at its sides. Its design was more streamlined, and though he could not see the face, with what he thought was thrusters at its feet, Ichika felt it was made specifically to fly. Which made the name shown at the white frame of the photo appropriate, "Raptor".

Further thoughts got broken by a chill going down his spine. Lifting his head slowly, Ichika was greeted with the sight of a very angry Chifuyu staring at him while tapping her foot. "_You do realize that is classified documents, right?_" Chifuyu gave a rather dangerous smile while staring at Ichika like a tiger looking at a particularly fat rabbit. Ichika gulped audibly while nodding his head so fast, one could almost see the blurred lines at the sides. He was going to get it for sure!

"Right then, considering you are injured, I guess I won't give you more cleaning duties." Chifuyu said that with her eyes closed. Ichika felt his heart lifting a little. _Does this mean he is safe?_

Then Chifuyu opened her eyes again, revealing a glint that sent his heart plummeting to his stomach. _Then again, he was wrong_. "Instead, why don't we settle with you handling the preparations for the upcoming sports fair? Get the plans out by tomorrow afternoon." With that, Chifuyu grabbed the document and walked out of the council room, closing the door behind her just in time for Ichika to snap out of his stupor and digest the situation.

_**"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

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Part 2

"Are we ready to go?" the men nodded to the guy who asked that question.

This group of 10 were at the airport cargo area, moving some luggage onto the luggage truck that would be going to a nearby private jet. At first glance, they seem to be regular workers doing their job while chatting with each other. But on closer inspection, one might notice some of them had odd looking tattoos running the side of the necks, another had an odd number of piercings on his face, and the person who was apparently in charge had half his face burned and a scar on his left eye.

"Sergeant Fenix, what is the situation with the target?" The man with the scar turned to one of the members who had a tattoo on his neck. "The target in question is well and on the way, General Gregor" Fenix saluted the general while giving the report, looking a little odd with the green jumpsuit he had on. "Also, the target is travelling with 3 others, so there won't be as many guards as we thought, since the plane capacity can only take so many with the secondary targets coming along."

Gregor nodded at the reply. That was good news for them, since they only needed to worry about those guards that would accompany their primary target. All they have to do was to take them out, and then they can hijack the plane. With luck, no casualties would have to happen.

"Okay, let's go over the plan once more." Gregor addressed the men in front of him. "The four of you are to take over the plane once the crew make a shift change at Dallas airport" He pointed at the 4 men with pony tails. "You guys are to try and get it to the appointed spot"

Turning his head, he said "The three of you are on standby with the other plane, in case we get anyone chasing after them in the air." The three including the man with piercings nodded to acknowledge. "And the two of you come with me to Japan for interception in case the original plan does not work out." Gregor turned his head towards Fenix and the other person. "So, any questions?"

One of the smaller soldiers brought up his shaking hand. He stuck out a little among a group of confident soldiers, with his shoulders bought together at the sides and his face a sight of nervousness. Gregor rolled his eyes and asked. "_Yes_, what's the problem Stan?" Stan jumped a little before voicing out his thoughts. "Erm, I don't mean any disrespect, but what if one of the security personnel is an IS representative? I know that they probably won't come after us unless it's an emergency, but if there's one on board, what should we do?"

"Don't worry about it, Stan. After all, we have this bad boy to handle those girlies" Gregor pointed his thumb over his shoulders towards the bulky suitcase that was on the ground. He had every reason to be confident; dubbed "Corruption Overload", the device inside the suitcase was considered something too dangerous to be used near IS. Developed by a small firm a couple years back, the original idea was to shut down any rogue IS Units during experimentation of new models, using specific radio waves to target the system. But during its trial run, it did more than target rogue IS; it effectively took down every single IS Unit within a 2 mile radius, leaving them unusable for a few days, which was detrimental for any IS Representative. Even more so, as investigations showed that there were some who were effectively stuck in their IS Units for a few hours, one of whom was flying just a few feet above ground, ended up in the hospital for broken legs.

Because of its effects, the IS committee voted to have the technology destroyed and all its records completely. But General Gregor caught word of the technology, so he sent a few of his men to steal the prototype and some of the plans to try and reverse engineer it, thus leading to the suitcase version, which was a significant improvement, given the prototype was roughly half the size of a small room.

"Even if they are trained to deal with threats without IS, I'm sure they can't handle tight quarters and the threat of getting knocked out of the plane." Gregor said with a wave of the hand. "Any more questions?" Again, Stan brought up his hand, this time even more slowly and trembling furiously. "_What now_, Stan?" Gregor growled as he glared at the soldier who looked ready to pass out. Even his fellow platoon mates stepped back a little at the current spectacle. Stan better had a good reason to keep questioning Gregor's plan.

"What do we do if _they_ came after us?" the subordinate stammered out that question under the glare of his leader. He did however hit a raw nerve with the others; some of the guys looked at each other nervously, while a couple of others gripped their equipment bags a lot tighter without realizing it. They had all heard about the recent attacks by the mysterious units, courtesy of their contacts from the associated regions. Even Gregor had heard about it from his dealer from South Dakota, that the unit that took out the terrorist cell was able to subdue two IS National Representatives and several F-22s without getting damage. It would be problematic if those units appeared.

"There should be no problems with that." Gregor replied back with a straight face. He needed the group's morale to be high in order for the mission to succeed. "Firstly, those units haven't appeared after all this time, despite other incidents that have occurred. Secondly, they should be similar to IS Units, so that means they can be affected by our equipment." With each word he said, the men seemed to gain a bit more confidence back inside them. "And furthermore, there is no way anyone knows about our operation. _Unless you guys messed up and mentioned it to anyone?_" Gregor glared at them to see their reaction. To his satisfaction, they all stood rigid and shook their heads. This was how real men should be; the way things were meant to be done before the accursed IS came along and turned the system upside down.

"Sir" Gregor's thoughts were interrupted by Fenix, who was checking his handheld device and holding his earpiece. "The target has just arrived at the entrance, and looks like her companions are just children. There are only two guards with them" Gregor's expression became grim with seriousness, his men also steeling their faces; even Stan's face undergo a dramatic change, from a nervous wreck to hardened soldier.

_It was time to launch the operation._

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**=====Author's Notes=====**

(1) JiangJun - General

Hope you enjoy this chapter! I will try to upload another soon!


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**

**Hey guys, here's the new chapter for Iron Stratos.**

**Without further ado, let's start the chapter!**

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**=Chapter Start=**

Part 1

Catherine Beal suppressed a yawn as she stretched her arms, hearing the joints pop softly in the cabin they were in. She would have preferred to walk around to get her body loosened, but since the plane has just finished its pre-flight procedures, she had to stay in her seat a little longer before the captain gave the all clear after they got into the air. She and her companions were currently in a cabin that was reserved for VIPs, and she had the seat right next to the window, so she could see the airport just a few feet away.

She was quite a sight to behold. She had long blonde hair extending past her shoulders, and had a gentle face with soft features to show her French nationality. Her body was perfectly curved in all the right areas, and she was considerably well-endowed for a lady hitting early 20s. As part of her job, she was currently dressed in a black suit with a white inner shirt complimenting the look. It was meant to look professional, but with the suit hugging her body, she would not look out of place in a modelling agency. But perhaps the one feature anyone would notice before that would have to be her eyes. They were a soothing emerald green that gave the feeling of being in an open field in a breeze, and could capture the eye of any guy.

"Oh dear, are you getting tired, Miss Beal?" A voice brought her attention to the person sitting in front of her. The person she was escorting was a woman approaching her mid-40s, not that you could tell that by looking at her; she had long wavy brown hair that was even longer than Catherine's, and her face was well-rounded with soft features and her eyes closed. She had a very curvy figure that Catherine admitted to be a little jealous of, with a bust to match hers. She was dressed simply with a white shirt and a pink blouse, which revealed a tantalizing view of her legs. With that image, anyone might mistake her to be a noble girl of Catherine's age, even younger, and not a 40-odd year old mother of 3 daughters. And certainly not one would associate a member of the IS Council.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Anderson. I guess I'm just not used to being stuck in one place for too long." Catherine apologised with a wry smile. They took an hour or so driving to the airport, stopping briefly to freshen up before boarding the plane. Then they had to wait for close to half an hour for the pilots to do the pre-flight procedures, since there were other passengers on board.

"Hmm, I guess that is the case." The brunette placed her hand on her cheek as she huffed softly. "Also, I told you, please call me Annie, Catherine. It makes me sound so old when people call me so formally." Catherine had to supress a giggle at the sight of Annie pouting. Really not the image of a person who held a place in the IS Council.

"Forgive me, but I am on the job right now." Catherine gave that reply, now desperately trying to hold back her laughter at the sight of Annie pouting ever further. It had only been a couple of years since she started working for Annie, but they had gotten close enough to call each other by their first names. That said, Catherine made it a point to be professional at work, so she insisted on calling Annie formally when guarding her.

"Don't bother about it; she is way too uptight about it." The two of them turned to see the other occupant in their cabin. Sitting one seat apart from Catherine was a girl reading a magazine in a rather haphazard manner of sitting. She was also an attractive girl, but can be considered as Catherine's opposite in that manner. She had short bob black hair that covered her ears neatly, and a face that spoke of her Ukraine nationality. She had a figure that could match Catherine's any day, and she wanted to emphasise it in a rather uncouth way of dressing. She too was wearing a black suit and a white inner layer, but deliberately left some buttons undone to emphasise the cleavage that was peeking out of her white shirt, and the belly button showing underneath. Adding to the pants worn dangerously loose, she looked like she was practically asking for men to attack her.

Currently, she was sitting with her legs stretched to the seat in front of her while lying down on her seat to the point she could potentially fall off it. "Please tidy yourself up. I would prefer you can be a little more professional in your job, Cynthia Aleston. We are after all protecting a member of the IS Council." Catherine frowned at the sloppy position and manner her fellow companion was in. "Don't worry, we will be fine." Cynthia replied back while flipping the page. "Seriously, you got to loosen up a little. That's why you can't get a boyfriend."

"Phht, doing a job properly has nothing to do with getting a boyfriend!" Catherine nearly screamed that reply out before covering her hand over her mouth and turning to face the window with her face blushing furiously. "Ara, ara. You really shouldn't say things like that to her." Annie said disapprovingly while wagging her finger. Cynthia merely waved her hand to show her reply.

"But speaking about boyfriends, what do you girls think about the only male IS pilot?" Annie asked with a glint in her eyes. Catherine sighed at this side of her, though grateful for the interruption. Annie was one of the few who enjoyed a bit of gossip when it came to Orimura Ichika. Unlike most of her generation who did not like the implications of a male pilot showing up after the IS, Annie was fairly interested in the idea that more could come after him. She was one of the very few who did not mind having males in charge of certain areas and even tried to encourage the notion that both sides can coexist. Something that was sadly not appreciated by a fair number of her peers, who enjoyed the privileges that came after the IS.

"I don't really have any opinion about him." Catherine replied while shaking her head. She had heard about Orimura Ichika from the American Representative Natasha Fairs, but she did not feel too curious about it. In a way, he was too young for her taste; she wanted someone around her age, and admittedly, she wanted one who could take care of her. But alas! Due to the current social status, there were no good men around. Most were either too weak to stand up for themselves, or were creeps who just wanted to 'get it on' with her.

"Hmm, don't really care too much about him." Cynthia replied back lethargically as Annie once again gave her usual pout at the lack of gossip from them. "But it would be interesting to see how he reacts around women, considering his current situation. Who knows" Cynthia gave a teasing smile. "If he's cute enough, perhaps I should try him out."

"Please refrain from saying such things in front of Mrs Anderson, and especially in front of the children!" Catherine blushed at her friend's desire to ensnare the boy while looking towards the cabin door. The 3 daughters were currently situated in a cabin next to theirs, and the last thing she wanted was for one of them to come in and hear Cynthia said that. She really did not need them to get a bad influence from her words.

"Please, you seriously need to get a boy and settle down, Cathy." Cynthia said while calling Catherine by her pet-name. "At this rate, you are going to get a few wrinkles at places you don't want to show. Not to mention growing white hair at an early age" There was a slight underlying tone of teasing mixed with those words, which ended up riling up Catherine.

"Can you stop saying that, Cynthia?! My job has nothing to do with getting a boyfriend!" Catherine was practically going red with both embarrassment and anger; Annie marvelled at the fact she hasn't passed out from supposed rushing of blood to her head. "I just don't like the insinuation about you trying to seduce a young man, not to mention passing that influence to Annie's daughters and giving them bad thoughts!" She was so flustered that she actually forgot to be professional and just called Annie by her given name. Seeing the two of them arguing, Annie could only put her hand on her cheek and sigh at them. It looked like a good time for a change in conversation, now that the plane was already moving down the runway, and would soon be in the air.

"So, what do you girls think about the recent sightings of the unknown units?" That simple question snapped both of their attention to her. Part of the reason why she wanted to make a stop in Japan was to try and make contact with some of the officers there. Specifically, Annie thought of asking Orimura Chifuyu to be a liaison for the IS Academy side, since she was the Brunhilde from the first Mondo Grosso. It was a very serious topic; Annie opened her eyes to reveal a serious edge in her magenta eyes, Catherine stopped blushing and sat at attention, Cynthia even sat properly and straightened out her clothing to give her undivided attention for the matter.

"To be honest, I really do not know what to think of those units" Annie started the topic in a serious tone. "So far, it would seem that they have been helping us deal with matters that most would not do or at least handle. Indeed, if it was not for 'Raptor', we would not have Dakota anymore." Cynthia and Catherine nodded grimly; recalling the details given in the report after the task force in charge apprehended the terrorist group, they were lucky the nuclear bomb did not do its job.

"However, the fact remains that they were built by someone who has yet to own up for the actions. And as far as investigations have gone, no one has the type of technology displayed by those units" Annie frowned a bit as she continued. "Not to mention, for some of the incidents, someone clearly had information to know where and when it happened, and we were only notified after the units came to stop them."

Cynthia crossed her arms and looked down while Catherine gave a thoughtful expression. They had heard from their individual contacts about them, but even they had no idea about their sudden appearance or reasons, apart from the capabilities they displayed.

"Could they have been built by Shinonono Tabane?" Catherine asked warily. She had heard a little about the woman's '_eccentricity',_ and in a way would make the logical choice, since she was the only one who could make IS units. It would stand to reason that she probably created those units out on a whim and just send them all over world.

"We had considered it." Annie nodded her head while talking. "But there were some who believed that a different company may have built those units with whatever knowledge they had on IS units. It may seem ridiculous, but considering the circumstances, we had to look at every option."

Catherine and Cynthia looked at each other with an expression of grimace. The both of them were Representative Cadets before going into the security sector, and though they were not given IS of their own, they were issued special equipment that bared a close resemblance to deal with hostiles. Their equipment were basically a skin-tight plug suit with a metallic exoskeleton with some weaponry and a small battery power source, enough to handle small scale hostilities for a few hours and a full-on assault for 15 minutes tops. The manner of storing the weapons in the form of data was applied to their equipment for easier transport.

But it was limited, and unlike IS units, theirs would not go into second shift or possess an AI capable of helping them in combat. Their equipment merely possessed a tenth of the strength of what an IS unit can do at a mere 1 hundredth. That was mainly due to the IS Core, that served both power and intelligence for the IS Frame. Without it, a IS Frame was basically a huge piece of scrap metal.

So the idea of someone other than Tabane was able to recreate the cores was a major cause for concern. For one thing, that person could become a one-man super power and take over any country. It was even more so with these units, since they have proven their strength against IS Representatives and other military strength.

"How about the companies who were tasked to research the IS Cores?" Cynthia asked. "We had considered those companies, so we had informed them to come to the meeting." Annie said while pulling out a piece of paper from her hand bag, before passing it to the others to view. "We would be meeting some of the representatives of those companies once we made a stopover at Dallas."

That was the other reason for going to Japan. After making a quick pit stop at Dallas to pick up the other members of the council, they would head there to have a discussion with Chifuyu and some of the known companies related to IS research, to see if any of them had a clue to the current situation. Hopefully they could get something out of them.

"If I recalled correctly, 3 of the representatives are already in Japan, since two of them are based here." Annie put her finger to her chin thoughtfully. It was a rather cute gesture of hers, seeing her with such a thoughtful look despite the gravity of the discussion. "And the third?" Catherine asked after taking a brief look at the paper with names of the representatives.

"Oh, that one would be the CEO himself coming along." Annie beamed at the thought of a man willingly coming along to do something himself rather than relying on representatives. "Apparently the young man is having a short vacation there in Japan, so when he heard about the meeting, he agreed to meet us." Catherine and Cynthia could only stare at Annie as she made that remark. That was something new, a CEO of a company specializing in IS research actually being a young male.

A soft beeping brought everyone's attention to the top where a blinking light showed they could remove their seat belts. They were apparently so engaged in their discussion that they did not notice they had left the runway and were in the air.

"Ah, looks like we can finally move around." Catherine stood up slowly, wincing as her legs gave small pangs of numbness and pain from the long seating. She did not realize that they had gone up in the air until the pilot gave the all-clear. Guess she should thanked Annie for distracting them; they were not frequent flyers like her, so they had slight air-sickness each time they flew. The last one ended in a manner she wanted to bring that secret to her grave. "I'll just check on the rest then, Miss Anderson." Annie nodded while smiling and closing her eyes. Cynthia went back to reading her magazine. There was no point worrying about it for now.

As she opened the door, she nearly bumped into one of the male attendants on the way out. "Ah, I'm sorry, Miss" The guy nervously bowed his head down while apologising. "Oh, it's okay; it is my fault as well." Catherine bowed as well before moving along, taking note of the attendant as he walked to the back of the plane. He was wearing the airline's standard uniform, but his overall appearance made him a little out of place, what with the ponytail and a tattoo peeking out of the collar.

'Guess there are still men who are getting desperate for a job.' Catherine noted as she went to briefly checked on the three daughters. She had absolutely no idea how right and wrong she was.

* * *

Part 2

Ichika sighed as he dragged his feet out of the Council room and started going towards the dormitory. It was close to midnight, and he rather not be caught by any of the teachers out on patrol. He had barely managed to get through the paperwork left on his desk, and despite knowing Chifuyu wanting the plans for the upcoming sports fair, Ichika seriously needed the sleep to get back some of the energy before he could tackle it. He was at least thankful that the paperwork for the visiting big-shots did not get finalized; otherwise he was going to need another two days to deal with.

His thoughts drifted to the earlier conversation he had with Chifuyu. Phantom Task, the group that wanted to take Byakushiki from him, and the group where 'M' or Orimura Madoka was a member of. Quite honestly, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact he may have a potential family member living somewhere, but he knew better than to mention it to Chifuyu. When it came to matters regarding their past, specifically their parents, Chifuyu would clam up and just walk away. It was something he could not remember, but it was something really major to make Chifuyu get rid of every single photo that had their parents' faces, and to get angry at the mere mention of them.

Shaking his head, Ichika focused on the idea of Phantom Task attacking the visitors coming to Japan. Probably wouldn't be the first time they did something like this. If they could infiltrate IS Academy so easily, what's to stop them from trying to attack and kidnap them?

Finally, he thought about the photo with the supposed IS Unit 'Raptor'. He did not know what it was, but it had to be really important to be classified, and to be talked about in the meetings. Ichika frowned at that bit of information. Why would the faculty spend all that time discussing about that unit? Did they believe the group that sent the Black Golems created this unit as well? Ah! He wished he could ask Chifuyu, but knowing her nature, she would probably be tight lipped and most definitely smack him in the head.

**"Smack!"**

_"Ouch! That seriously hurt!"_ Ichika nearly shouted as he turned while massaging the spot on his head. That look of pain quickly turned into one of sheepish fear as he laid his eyes on Chifuyu, who was currently massaging her forehead while holding a flashlight in the other hand. Of all the people he had to run into, it had to be his sister!

"You were thinking why me of all people, right?" Chifuyu said without opening her eyes. _Darn it, why was it she always know what he was thinking?! Seriously, does she have some technology that allows mind reading?!_

"So why are you out so late?" Chifuyu sighed as she opened her eyes to look at Ichika. "I have been handling the paperwork all day and night, Orimura Sensei" Ichika said while still rubbing the bump on his head. "You too, huh?" Chifuyu sighed as she said that. "Honestly, all these meetings and paperwork are getting on my nerves." Ichika could only smile in sympathy for her as she shook her head.

"That said, Orimura" she directed her eyes at Ichika, who dropped the smile at the look in her eyes. "Staying up late is prohibited, even if it was meant for work."_ 'Oh Crap!'_ Ichika gulped as he quaked under the intensity of her glare. _He was so going to get it!_

"Excuse me." Both of them turned sharply at the voice, to find a spectacled lady standing just a few metres behind Chifuyu. Aided by the flashlight, Ichika could see that the lady had her hair tied up in a bun, and she had a small beauty mark under her left eye. She was dressed in a brown vest and a short blouse to complement that look. She was carrying a small tablet that was apparently switched on. 'Seriously, won't her eyes get strained?' Ichika thought privately. On cue, the lady turned to him and gave a small smile. Ichika felt his heart skip a beat at that expression. _'Damn it, older women are formidable!'_ He thought before feeling a chill down his spine. Turning slowly, he nearly panicked at the sight of Chifuyu glaring at him with a look of disapproval._ 'Oh Crap!_' Ichika thought again.

Before Chifuyu could say anything at him, the spectacled lady leaned forward to whisper something through Chifuyu's ear. It must have been important, as her eyes shot up and she looked to the lady as if looking for confirmation, before turning back to Ichika. "Orimura, for now I will let you off. Go back to your room and get a night's rest. Also, you can give the plans for the sports fair later this week." With that, Chifuyu turned around and walked back into the dark corridor with the spectacled lady, leaving Ichika standing in the dark and thinking of one thing.

_'What was all that about?'_

* * *

"Are you certain of your information?" Chifuyu asked that the moment she entered the communications room. This room was built six stories underground in the event of any attacks on IS Academy, so it took a while for her to get to the room. The room was filled with the type of equipment that would make the Air Force, the Navy and NASA want to chop their arms off to have: state of the art sonar-equipment, satellite controls, heat detection systems, etc.

"Yes, Miss Orimura. We just got confirmation that one of the units was sighted flying towards Norway." The spectacled operator accompanying her replied back as they walked towards the end of the room, where there was huge flat screen for all to view. "Based on its flight directory and recent checks of the area, it seemed to be heading to an unknown base that was previously hidden from the sensors. The only reason we found out about it was because we checked the entire area with everything we had, and we were able to detect a high heat signature from that area."

Chifuyu made her way to one of the monitors where another operator was typing at a blinding pace. "Put it on the big screen." The operator nodded, typed a bit more before pressing the enter button, displaying the live image on the big screen. What was shown made a few of the personnel gasp loudly.

The image showed the smouldering remains of what must had been a very huge military installation. Chifuyu could tell some of the equipment destroyed were bits of IS frames and tanks. There was no way anyone could have missed such a huge base all this time, what with the army based there during periodical sweeps of the area, and them checking the area with their satellites for any heat signatures and unusual activity.

Hovering in the air was a greyish looking unit holding a rifle in its hand, its back turned towards the camera. Despite that, Chifuyu got the confirmation she needed by seeing the jet pack, the military camouflage and the odd glowing particles that were emitting from vents at its sides. "Raptor" Chifuyu muttered out the name as she continued watching it. As if it had heard her, the unit started turning around and twisting its head to the sides while continuing to hover, like it was seeking out the voice that called it.

After turning a full 180 degrees, it hovered still for a moment. As everyone wondered what it was looking at, the unit suddenly lifted its head and showed its face. The effect of it staring right at them was instantaneous; it made a few of the operators stumble backwards in shock, another to drop and break her cup in surprise. Chifuyu herself was startled, but managed to hold back her emotions and settled for her fist clenching tightly.

_'That was absurd of me to think that it could hear me, it is at the other side of the world for crying out loud!'_ Chifuyu chided herself mentally as she studied what had to be the unit's 'facial features' It was definitely not like the IS models she was accustomed to seeing; even the Black Golems had features that identified to their relation to IS. This one however was drastically different; it seemed to have a face plate, with what seemed to be head antennas with a crystal in the middle. With the supposed 'eyes', this was perhaps the most human like design she had seen.

The other bit she noticed was the frame's design. She had heard testimonies about it being form-fitting, but looking at it first hand, she thought the description was lacking. The entire frame was covered in armour, but completely stream-lined as compared to current IS Models with the limbs being the most armoured, thus giving it a more built look. The frame seemed to have emphasized even further for the expressed purpose of flight; the legs had small flaps at the knee regions that would suggest they would lock themselves in a straight manner during flight, and it would appear to have small openings around the chest plate which suggested air vents for thrusters.

Lastly, her attention was brought to the center of the unit's chest plate, where there was a circular object glowing very brightly. Chifuyu had heard about the theory of it being a power source of the unit, and judging from the particles that were surrounding the unit, and the amount of destruction shown on camera, she would have to agree on that part.

Still, it begged the question: could this unit be considered an IS? There were elements of IS Infrastructure, that much was certain, but if one were to put it next to an actual IS unit, it would appear more of powered armour; if anything, it reminded her more of the comic book character Ichika used to read about as a kid. Oddly enough, the design made Chifuyu think that if this was a unit meant to be piloted by anyone, it would have to be a male to use it. There was no other way to put it other than calling it 'muscular' as compared to the IS Units known. Apart from the first Black Golem attack, the second had units that resembled female pilots. This unit's frame was definitely a lot taller than most, and it had more build in terms of design.

All further thoughts were interrupted by an operator pointing at the screen. Chifuyu directed her eyes to see 'Raptor' bring up its free hand slowly in front of it, and to everyone's shock, started wagging its index finger. That small act of wagging its finger was evident in the silence that permeated the room; no one could tear their eyes away from that simple gesture. Chifuyu herself was getting a little light-headed at the implications that the unit knew someone was watching it.

The silence got destroyed by a loud beeping sound that shocked everyone in the room, some clearly affected more by the dropping of documents and chairs getting shoved. Everyone turned to the operator handling the screen, who looked a little sheepish as she busily typed some commands on the keyboard. That look quickly got replaced with that of extreme anxiety.

"Miss Orimura, someone is hacking the server through the satellite!" The operator desperately tried stopping the operation to no avail. "Disconnect it!" Chifuyu yelled as she pushed her way to the operator's table. "I CAN'T!" The operator lifted her hands in exasperation. "Whatever or whoever it is, the program is going all the way through!"

"Then shut down the power!" Chifuyu ordered her. When the operator hesitated, Chifuyu practically screamed the words out to convince her. **"NOW, DAMN IT!"** Chifuyu grimaced as she watched the operator type a few more commands before going to another desk to shut down the system. She understood the hesitation, because by shutting down the power, they would lose the connection to the satellite, and possibly any hope of tracking 'Raptor'. But it was either that or risk losing the entire system to some virus being sent from god knows where.

With a final push of the button, the entire system shut down, leaving the room in darkness for a short while before the emergency lights kicked in, bathing the room in an eerie red. Several of the personnel sighed loudly as the tension got released slowly; Chifuyu however made her way to the operator's table and asked: "Has any of the systems been compromised?"

"Thankfully, no", the operator gave a quick check on the monitor as she typed a few commands. "All systems are good to go, we just need to reboot it and we are fine." Chifuyu let out a small sigh of relief. If their systems got compromised, the amount of damage to repair extended to more than just fixing the equipment. The information on the systems was too valuable to lose, otherwise IS Academy would be open to attacks from every country. It looked like the worst was over.

"Wait a second!" The operator's sharp words brought a stop to everyone's moment of relief. "There seems to be a message that was sent during the transmission." The operator started checking all the firewalls before she scanned the message for any virus. From their point of view, the operator looked like she was about to suffer a stroke when she did her last check and opened it. "What does the message say?" Chifuyu said in a soft tone, noting the tenseness in it. The operator wordlessly typed some commands before pointing at the big screen. Chifuyu sucked in a deep breath as she looked at the message displayed on the big screen. She should really scold herself for tempting fate.

**_'It is not nice to spy on others, please refrain from doing it again.'_**

* * *

**=====Author's Notes=====**

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and I get a new chapter out soon!


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:**

**Hey guys, here's the new chapter for Iron Stratos.**

**I apologize for the lateness of this upload. I'm currently having an exam and it is messing with the writing. It would be another month or so until I can get the next one up.**

**Without further ado, let's start the chapter!**

* * *

**=Chapter Start=**

Part 1

Ichika suppressed a yawn as he made his way to the 6th arena at the stadium. It was a little early, just past 7 a.m., but he figured he should try to tweak his unit as best he can before breakfast. That, and the fact that he woke up to a naked Laura (again) and decided that rather than throw a fuss, he might as well get up and do something productive.

Like the past few days, that day was supposed to have lessons, but it got cancelled due to another meeting and so got regulated for IS maintenance. Since Chifuyu gave him extra time for deal with the paperwork, Ichika decided to spend some time on the maintenance of Byakushiki Setsura. After arriving and checking the arena for the tools he needed, he grabbed his right hand and concentrated on the metal gauntlet to call up Byakushiki Setsura.

He sighed as his unit took its time to materialize from the data stream. It had been quite some time since the attack on IS Academy, but the damage was still present in both his and everyone's IS Units. Even for a complete novice like him, he could tell the materialization speed was taking too long; his fastest was 10 seconds flat, not considered the best for top cadets, but that was his personal best. Now it took 20 seconds just for the leg armor to show up, and the arms had barely started to show a glimmer of its shape.

Actually, the team from Kuromochi Research Center, the place where Byakushiki was created, had examined the unit and suggested to get it sent for repairs and overall maintenance, but with the present situation where every single unit, be it personal or mass produced, was so damaged, they ended up getting swarmed like the other companies. So Ichika tried handling the maintenance until they were ready, giving them occasional updates on his progress just so they got a general idea of what to fix when they do meet.

As the unit entered its final materialization phase, Ichika started to examine the unit's exterior. At the least, the areas where the damage had been the most severe have been restored; only the left leg armor and the wings still showed some battle scars from the attack. It seemed that the system had given precedence to the repairs of Setsura and Yukihira, so now they were more or less functional, but the power output was a lot lesser than before. After that check, Ichika opened the small window of the system to get to the real problem: the internal systems.

It was one thing for the armor to be repaired; it was an entirely different situation with the internal systems. Since Kuromochi was unable to deal with the repairs, Ichika had tried to handle it himself with the occasional help from the others. But as Charlotte put it bluntly after checking both their IS units, _"Forget fighting, we should be lucky that the units can __still move__ after that battle"_. Apparently, the internal systems took a lot more damage than was expected, so there were the occasional bugs that would either harmlessly cause the IS Unit to stop hovering for a few hours, to the near fatal fall to the ground several feet from the ground.

Fortunately for him, it seemed that his was less damaged as compared to the rest, so his bugs fell under the harmless, but embarrassing category. Ichika suppressed the memory of the second time he tried to get his unit working. It was the type of memory that he swore would take that to the grave, even if the girls tried to persuade him.

Shaking his head, he continued to examine the system while making some changes to the code. With help from Honne, Kyouko, Fee and occasionally Kanzashi, he was able to understand the coding enough to get a general feel of what to fix. That being said, the internal systems really took a major beat-down; he only accessed the first layer and was already having to purge 20% of it because it had become corrupted from the damage that went to the core. Though the core was still in one piece, it seemed to have sustained a bit of damage _('Nothing the machine cannot fix, it just takes a while' Ichika thought privately)_, so he had to be careful on what to delete to avoid any mishaps.

While carefully sorting through the system coding, Ichika let his mind wander back to the night before. It was unusual for Chifuyu to just leave without punishing him for breaking the rules, even how minor it was. It must have been something rather urgent to just walk away immediately. Did it by chance have anything to do with 'Raptor'? It seemed to be rather important to have to classify a unit as 'Top-Secret' and possibly under surveillance.

A beeping sound knocked him out of his thoughts and put a frown on his face as he hit a part of the system he still had trouble trying to access all this time. It was one of the safeguards of the system to ensure no false tampering of the core, but it made for a very lengthy bypassing that could be more damaging. Honestly, it was times like this he could really use the others' help in fixing this problem.

_"And here we are then, Orimu~!"_

**"Wah!"** Ichika jumped slightly at the voice that came from the back, nearly deleting a core part of the system by accident. His heart beating wildly, he turned to find not only Nohotoke Honne waving to him in her usual clothes, but also Kyouko and Fee smiling at him as they drew closer. Seriously, what was with their timing?

"So you girls here to do maintenance as well?" Ichika asked as he hovered out of the way to make room for them. At least the hovering mechanism still worked without any issues, he would not want to lug around a huge lump of metal around.

"Hai, we too have our reputation to uphold as the maintenance crew in IS!" Kyouko raised her fist in the air as she made the claim. If this were a sentai show, Ichika would most certainly see fireworks exploding behind her. _'Well, she probably won't look too out of place in that type of setting.'_ Ichika thought privately.

"You just thought I would not look out of place in a sentai show, right?" Kyouko gave a wry smile at Ichika's expressions as he shook his head furiously. _Seriously, can he not have a moment's privacy with his own thoughts?!_

"Oh well, it is not just that." Fee smiled as she turned her head to a spot behind Kyouko. "Kanzashi-san, why don't you come out for a second?" There was small "epp" that came from behind Kyouko, then slowly, the timid face of Kanzashi peeked behind, her face flushed red at seeing Ichika. "Oh, good morning, Kanzashi" Ichika smiled as he greeted her. Kanzashi gave another shy 'eep' before she slowly moved away from her hiding spot and bowed her head. "G-good morning, Ichika-san" She stammered her greeting back while twiddling her fingers.

"We are here to help her with her IS repairs." Fee put her arm around Kanzashi while explaining. "Considering Uchigane Nishiki was based on the old Uchigane, we figured we helped her out a little while repairing our own."

"And it looks like it was a good choice, since you are here as well!" Kyouko said as she approached Ichika and gave a quick look at the IS. "It seems you have some problem yourself regarding the suit again huh?" Ichika nodded sadly, pretty much given up on trying to access the system. It did not help that Byakushiki was somewhat finicky with any changes to its equipment or programmes that contradict with its 'behavior'.

"Hmm, well it seems you have managed to purge some of the corrupted data, but you would need to readjust the settings and recalibrate the entire weapons' controls in order to utilize them properly." Kyouko muttered as she continued scrutinizing the unit's system. _'That's the maintenance crew for you'_ Ichika thought privately _'one glance and she already knows what I had to do next.'_

"Not to mention, your flight controls would need resetting to counteract the weight distribution from your damaged armor." Fee added while looking at the damaged parts of his suit. Ichika suppressed a smile at their display of knowledge. Just a couple of minutes in and they were already discussing on how to help him improve his unit.

"Right then, let's get to work, shall we?" Ichika asked as he went to grab a system tuner for readjustment. "Yah!" The girls responded with much gusto; even Kanzashi raised her arm half-way to show her support.

For the next few minutes, the maintenance crew alternated between Ichika and Kanzashi, occasionally gathering at either one for a while to ascertain particular adjustments. Thanks to their help, Ichika was able to bypass the safeguards and managed to get back 40% of his original power back. He could almost feel the difference in the flexibility of his limbs as he continued testing. Before the armoured limbs felt like they were being weighed down, making the movements sluggish; now, he could almost do some of his kendo moves easily, with the more difficult styles not yet attainable due to the damages of his armour.

"Kanzashi, how's your side hanging on?" Ichika turned to her as he asked that question. Kanzashi gave a nervous nod as she focused on the readjustments. She was doing what Ichika had seen her do the first time he saw her unit; handling multiple monitors and keyboards with her 4 limbs. It was somewhat hypnotic to see her do so.

"Erm, how's yours doing?" Kanzashi asked shyly as she paused in her typing. She still remembered the state he was in during the assault on IS Academy, and despite attempts at repairs, she knew that his unit had one of the worst damages done, proven by the brief sessions they had to try and overhaul Byakushiki with spare parts, while purging corrupted data.

"Well, at least my unit is getting back to its old performance." Ichika shrugged as he deactivated some parts of his armour to save power. "But I would need the staff from Kuromochi to do a thorough repair job on it before I can use it like before." Turning back to her, he asked again. "You sure you don't need help? I can at least help out with the heavier equipment." Kanzashi blushed heavily at the sight of his smile. _'Eh, is she having a fever?'_

"It… It is fine, really!" Kanzashi stuttered as she waved her arms. Unfortunately, her arm accidentally hit the monitor at her side, and with a loud "Beep!" and a few commands appearing on the screen, her boosters flared to life, and she was sent flying straight at him while screaming. _**"KYAAA!"**_ Kanzashi flailed her arms as she attempted to regain control. _"Kanzas-?!"_ Ichika let out a gasp as he caught her in his arms barely in time, his stomach baring the full force, before sending them both to the wall hard, hitting his head in the process.

Ichika groaned while clutching his head, before feeling a warm breath in front of him. He opened his eyes to find himself in a rather precarious position: Kanzashi was pressed against him, and with their chest plates removed for easier maneuverability, he was feeling two lumps on his chest that was making his heart go nuts. Furthermore, their faces were practically right in front of each other; they could feel each other's breath as they exhale.

"Oh, nice going you two!" Kyouko gave a leer as she let out what could be described as a dirty old man's laugh, something which was followed up by Honne and Fee. _'This is dangerous!'_ Ichika thought as he attempted to move away from Kanzashi. Apparently, in the nick of time.

"ICHIKA!" A familiar shout and a weapon thrown in between them and embedding itself in the wall was all Ichika needed to identify the twin-tailed Chinese as she made her way towards them. And to Ichika's despondence, the other girls came right behind her in hot pursuit, their expressions being absolutely terrifying at that moment. He swore he could almost see a black cloud behind them.

"Ichika, I was trying to find you at your room, and you are here flirting!" Houki brought out her katana that she was carrying in her hand, the glint of the cold steel being very evident in the morning light that was shining off it as she drew closer to him. Wait, for that matter, why would she carry that sword with her so early in the morning?!

"Really, Ichika-san, a gentleman really should not be such a gigolo so early in the morning." Cecilia smiled as she called out Starlight Mark 3, the barrel being unusually shiny in the morning. "Mou, Ichika should not be so ecchi, perhaps I should get it out of your system?" Charlotte gave her 'angel of death' smile as she materialized twin pistols in her hands.

"You are my wife; you should not be fraternizing with other women!" Laura slowly drew the dagger from her leg sheath with deliberate intent in her eye. "That's right, so let's kill him!" Rin gave a soft evil crackle as she flexed the left gauntlet, the metallic joints creaking a little loud in the arena. Ichika gulped audibly at the face of what promised to be a major beat down. He really needed some help!

"You girls are noisy." **"Smack!"**

The arena got filled with the sounds of the attendance book hitting their heads, with a louder smack reserved for Ichika, leaving him seeing double for a while. Their hands clutching their head, everyone turned to face the disciplinarian whose eyebrows were twitching a lot more than usual, and with a super thick attendance book in her hand.

"So then, whose idea was it to go around trying to use unauthorized usage of IS weaponry?" The girls gave a loud "eep" at the aura that was issuing from Chifuyu's figure. One could almost see a white figure in the background with a giant blade in its hand to deal out punishment.

"Honestly, can you girls ever get more annoying than ever?" Chifuyu said with her all famous glare turned up to 120% intensity. At that point, all the girls were automatically sitting in seiza with their heads down. As for Ichika, he was practically sprawling on the ground, like he was at the mercy of the 'Final Boss' in a video game. No one dared to go against the woman who could effectively shut them up with just an attendance file! On a side note, Honne and the other 2 girls managed to get away from the wrath of Chifuyu Orimura, grabbing Kanzashi on their way to escape.

"And you, Orimura! Stop bringing so much trouble all the time." Chifuyu growled at the trembling Ichika as she tapped her foot furiously on the ground. It seemed she was in a particularly bad mood for the morning and for good reason: she has slight bags under her eyes and her hair was little ruffled from her running her hand through it too many times. Seemed like something kept her up all night, and she was venting all that frustration on them.

After a few minutes of lecturing and few more hits on the head, Chifuyu finally let up on her attacks and gave out a deep sigh to ease her nerves. The others slowly got up, wincing as the multiple hits started to take its toll on them. Ichika himself was clutching his head to stop his vision from going upside down as he stood up on shaky legs.

"Orimura-Sensei?" Ichika tentatively asked, catching himself in the nick of time from calling her by her other name. That seemed to attract her attention and somewhat relaxed her further, as she directed her tired eyes at him. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, it's just peachy." She gave another sigh while massaging her head. "Let's just say that last night was not one of the best nights I had." The other nodded to show their sympathy for her, hoping to ease her tension enough to let them off.

They did not know it, but Chifuyu had spent the last few hours directing the staff to check the systems for any other invasions from 'Raptor', while ensuring the information was untouched. She did not know how 'Raptor' found out who was watching it, or how it managed to hack in real-time to the system, but thanks to it she only got a couple of hours to sleep before getting up for the de-briefing. And to add to the fire, she had to handle this fiasco started by Ichika (She firmly believed it to be his fault.)

She was about to say more when a ring tone from her phone blared out of her side pocket. Chifuyu frowned as she picked up the device and put it to her ear. The frown became a scowl that the others instinctively flinched away in fear. It seemed whatever news she got was not a good thing, as she quickly turned off the phone and turned to them with a glare.

"For now, your punishment would be to run ten rounds around the track with your IS strapped to your backs." She barked at the girls before turning to Ichika. "And as for you; you are to clean up this mess and the other two arenas with your IS strapped to your back as well." Ichika could only cry mentally at the face of such punishment. If he knew what was going to happen, he would have just gone back to the council room and just stay there!

"And lastly." Chifuyu took this moment to take a deep breath and let out her tension slowly. "After your punishments, please come to the conference room at Block 6B. There's something I need you guys to be around for."

At that statement, everyone stopped lamenting their misfortune to stare at her. The conference room at Block 6B? That was in an area restricted only to the staff, so why were they being asked to go there?

* * *

Part 2

"Honestly, how long do we have to wait until we get there?" A sound of a bored male drawled out of one of the cabins that Catherine was drawing near to. She stopped while giving a grimace. Of all the people to be at the conference, this person had to be there!

"Like seriously, couldn't we have done this damn meeting on the video conference? All this travelling and waiting is really making me bored." The voice drawled on, with a loud yawn accompanying afterwards.

Catherine grimaced again as she purposely drove clear from the cabin it was emitted. It was not like she was an impatient woman who had a dislike for certain things and people, nor was she the type who would be violent, but to hear the voice from its owner was something that made her sorely tempted to bring out her guns and shoot a couple of holes into that person.

The plane had landed in Dallas for a quick pit stop, and to pick up some of the representatives and the other council members for the meeting in Japan. Some of them Catherine knew well enough to be on good terms: Senator Bill Coulson from America, who often helped her and Cynthia out with their equipment maintenance with his contacts; Representative of Africa Adisa Beily, a woman who often talked to them in matters ranging from ordinary (like the latest fashion) to the serious work matters (once asking their opinions on security details); and perhaps the favorite for the Anderson family, CEO from one of the Italian IS Company, Genaro Blandelli, who was pretty much the friend of the family. He helped them out along a difficult path when Annie's husband died a few years back, and was around for so long that the three daughters affectionately called him "Uncle Blandelli".

Not that he would allow anyone to call him that. Catherine and Cynthia were lucky enough to get on his good grace that he allowed the two of them to call him that. Anyone else would get the first-hand experience of his love towards wrestling, as one guy found out the hard way. Catherine still smiled at the memory of the guy who rudely tried calling Genaro that, and ended up in a position that had to be almost impossible to do without breaking a few bones and dislocating a couple of joints.

Then there were the people Catherine had trouble restraining her hatred: Lawrence Cabel, a representative from the Canadian company who made no pretense in his ideas of 'forceful intervention' when it came to matters that could advance his career; Natalia Kimblee, a representative from a small IS company of Monte Carlo who had a rather 'raunchy' way of making things go her way, and the woman who often got in the way of ideas presented by Annie.

Lastly, the owner of the voice she hated instantly the first moment she heard it: Justin Dain, CEO of Omega-Dain IS Corporation, and one of the 6 CEOs alongside Genaro to appear at the summit. This guy was one of the top engineers in the IS Research Field, and he spared no effort in making sure everyone knew that. Not to mention the moment they met, Justin declared he would take her as his girlfriend, something that Cynthia herself was a little tempted to beat the crap out of him.

And then there were other male representatives, both young and old, who held no inclination to hold back their desires for women. Since her, Cynthia and the Anderson family were on the plane, they were prime targets for their lust. She did not know what Cynthia might do in situations like this (probably steer them to do some jobs for her before giving them the boot), but for herself, she would very much like to introduce them to her plasma blaster.

Catherine sighed as she made her way towards the cabins she and the rest were allocated. At the very least, their cabins were away from the passenger side where her least favorite people were at, and at least Genaro was around. He was very passionate in protecting her, Cynthia, Annie and the three daughters; Catherine had occasional images of him standing at the Anderson Estate fully equipped with guns and grenades to ward off any guy who wanted to court them. That thought perked her up as she reached the cabin where the three daughters were being seated. After they left Dallas Airport, Annie and Cynthia went to check on them, with Catherine going around to confirm who were on the plane with them. She knocked to alert them she was coming inside, before opening the door.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Beal." Catherine turned her head to the left, where the three daughters were currently sitting. The voice came from the eldest daughter seated closest to the door, with her glasses dangled by her neck with a chain and a small book in her hand. Catherine greeted back as she made her way to the empty seat on the right side where Annie and Cynthia were seated. She gave a contented sigh as she lay back on the chair, before directing her attention to the three daughters.

As the oldest at the age of 20, Floris was a woman who seemed to have adopted Annie's strictness in clothing and her womanly charms. Her long brown hair went past her shoulders and got tied at the end in a small ponytail. Her face had slightly hardened features that came from working in a serious environment, but was still gentle enough to make people relax around her. Her figure was definitely eye-catching, having curves in the right places and having a rather impressive bust-line. That figure got accentuated by the business clothes and the skirt complementing it. With the glasses she had on sometimes, she was what some guys might call the 'sexy secretary'.

Not that any guy would dare to tell her that to her face. Floris worked as the head of one of the departments in RAD-IS Corporation back in Europe, and she was known to be a bit 'merciless' when it came to certain rules regarding work ethics or dealings with other companies. Her strictness and moral ethics had helped out a few times, particularly when there were a few men in the past who tried to offer an 'alternative payment' when the company needed certain materials for frame development. She outright refused them on the spot and went to find a separate supplier. In a humorous twist, those men were often investigated and found guilty of certain crimes like black market deals and higher management corruption. It became a sort of unofficial rule for the police and private investigators to probe anyone who got refused by Floris.

Carissa was a couple of years behind Floris, and her attitude and dressing all pointed to her current rebellious period. Her hair was cut short to barely reach her shoulders, and her face seemed to have settled in a permanent frown, though she could smile at times. She too had a figure that could compete with many of the women in the present company, and adopted clothing and style that was similar to Cynthia's dress code. She wore a small T-shirt that was straining against her bust-line, black mini-shorts that hugged her hips and a jacket to complement it.

Villian, the youngest at the age of 16, was perhaps the most ordinary, and also the most different of the three. She had long blonde hair from her father's side tied into a bun, and had a pale complexion that combined with her gentle features, made her look rather fragile. Compared to her sisters' more womanly charms, she had a very slender figure that gave her a fairy-like 'cuteness' which in itself was pretty dangerous for a shy girl like her. Adding to the light coloured dress she was currently in, Villian looked like a typical princess right out of a fairy tale.

With that in mind, it was surprising that Cynthia was appointed as her bodyguard when they went on trips. Initially Catherine had some fear that Cynthia was going to corrupt Villian's innocence, but remarkably, Cynthia seemed to have taken to Villian enough that she actually refrained from teaching her 'naughty' things, tidied herself up properly, and also to protect her from any unscrupulous males. In fact, when any guy tried to approach Villian with bad intentions, Cynthia promptly handed them their asses to the point that Villian had to plead with her to hold back.

With such varying attitudes and appearances, one would be forgiven for thinking they were not related to each other at all. But that may be expected, Catherine thought sadly, considering how the death of their father played a part in their current roles. She was not around at that time, but she could somewhat relate to the impact of that loss.

"So, what has got you down?" Floris question brought Catherine out of her thoughts, realizing that she was getting gloomy in front of them. She shook her head, while thinking of something to talk about.

"No, it's just that I found out we are going to have some of the least liked people for this meeting." Catherine gave another grimace remembering the voice from the cabin she avoided. She was so going to be far away from Justin when they land in Okinawa Airport. Last thing she needed was Justin coming right at her with an arsenal of 'romantic dinners', 'honeymoon' and (she suppressed a major shudder at this point) MARRIAGE.

_Oh God, she was going to need all the luck she could get!_

"Anyone in particular we should avoid?" Carissa asked with a smile tugging at her lips, as if guessing what was going on in her head. The girls themselves were no strangers to the different people from the IS Council, and thus had their own preferences for different representatives. Coincidentally, she shared the same dislike of Justin Dain as Catherine, so the two often discussed how much of a low-life he was.

"Several come to mind." Catherine sighed as she laid herself back in the cushioned seats, thankful for their softness. She took a glance at Annie who smiled at her to continue as she continued sorting through some documents for the meeting, before turning to face the daughters. "But there is one person you probably do not want to meet at all. _Maverick Kane_" And with that name, the atmosphere turned a little sour. Cynthia hit the side-rest a little too hard; Annie's smile dimmed a little; Floris clenched the book a little tighter than needed; Carissa gave a very big and angry scowl as she crossed her arms; even Villian bit her lip at hearing that name.

Maverick Kane was the CEO of AXEM Enterprise, one of the leading firms in IS Frame designs. He was a man whom, in their opinion, would be willing to make a deal with the devil himself just so he can get ahead of the competition. Crudely nicknamed the "Iron Monger" after the character from the comic book for his ties to the military, Maverick made no pretense in his showing of power and wealth obtained from his dealings with the military and the IS Community. Catherine and Cynthia had met that man a couple of times, and frankly, they wished they never met him at all. To say that he was dismissive of women was a major understatement.

For the daughters, it was a different type of dislike that could motivate even the frail Villian to kick him in the shin if she got the chance. Maverick apparently had an eye out for Annie even before the IS appearance, and did not hold back in trying to woo her even after she was married. This created a fair bit of friction between him and Howard, Annie's husband. But what really got to them was how the guy intensified his efforts after his death. The man had _the nerve_ to do that when Annie was feeling vulnerable. Floris who was 16 back then aggressively drove him out of the house with the help of some of the staff who shared her sentiment.

Although Annie had told them that all was fine, Catherine and Cynthia made a fair bit of effort to keep an eye on him whenever they got word of any meeting involving Annie to have to meet him. He was getting too brazen for his own good, and they were not taking any chances with that man.

In an effort to change the mood, Annie spoke while going through the documents. "Well that person aside, I'm sure there are some others who we are comfortable with?" Catherine took a deep breath as she sifted her thoughts in her mind. 'Think positive' Catherine mentally spoke as she settled for some names.

"Well, there is Senator Coulson and Mrs Beily for the meeting." Catherine replied back to Annie's question, holding back a look of relief as she watched the daughters relaxed somewhat from her words. "And then we have Mr Grayson of QM-Core Firm, and David Ledger of YMA Enterprise." Catherine continued calling out more names as she watched the girls relax even more. It was a good thing she had the names memorized in her head, it was at least those who were on good terms with them that the girls would feel comfortable with.

That aside, it became clear to her how major the issue regarding the mysterious units was. Many of the corporations involved were the giants in the IS Field, and some of the people coming along for the ride were the big names that would make smaller firms quake in their shoes.

"Okay, but I guess apart from those you just mentioned, I am guessing there are those who we don't like?" Carissa quirked an eyebrow as she asked. She too was no stranger to the males who often courted her and her sisters, and in tune to her rebellious attitude, she would at times make an example of those who tried to approach them wrongly. Catherine could only give a sigh as a response.

"I can only hope that the three we are meeting in Japan are not like those guys." Catherine massaged her head as she muttered softly. Guess she was going to be doomed to find a young man of her taste.

Annie must have overheard her words, as she lifted her head and removed her glasses. "Ah, you do not need to worry, Catherine" She smiled at her as she started to give her opinion about the people coming in Japan. "Douvin is the representative of Kamiya Industries, though his boss is a little on the shrewd side, Douvin has always been helpful when it comes down to political matters, and he gives me a generous discount for some of the materials for our company." At this point, Catherine was sitting up very straight while listening to Annie, her headache forgotten. It was not often one got to hear about any of the new or current players that were in the IS market, so she might as well tried to get as much information as she could.

"The second is also the representative of another company, Leeroy Anthony Gibbs. He used to be a Marine, but got scouted out by EXCOM Dynamics due to his officers giving high recommendations for his radical designs on cybernetic frames. He also doubles as the bodyguard for the boss." Annie did another innocent pose by putting her finger on her chin as she thought of any additional information to give. "He is a bit hard to get along, because of his strictness, but once you get on his good side and look past his tendency to be a little trigger-happy, he is quite a nice fellow to talk to." Annie giggled suddenly as she called one small titbit. "Just make sure you don't ask him too much about current technology. I think he may have been born in the wrong century, he does not seem to realize that cloud storage is a lot faster to transfer stuff than a CD."

The three daughters and Catherine paused for a moment, before laughing at the idea of a guy who was baffled at all the computer stuff in front of him. Truly, a guy born in the wrong century.

"Then how about the third fellow, the young man who is the CEO?" Cynthia asked as she straightened up to listen in on their conversation, just in time to see a rather interesting reaction from Annie. At that question, she started blushing and turning her head towards the window, displaying a smile that was more radiant than normal.

"W-Well, he is rather new in the field of IS research, but he is fairly capable in dealing with the IS core." Annie stammered as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "He and his friend used to be in the medical technology sector, but they both got the skills that made them some of the leading researchers in the core research. After his friend passed away, he took over and worked his way to the top and become the CEO. He still handles the medical side, but has used the knowledge from the IS research to create prototypes for more convincing prosthetics." Annie got her hands on her face as she recounted more of the guy. "Despite all the successes he had, he never lets them go to his head; if anything, he takes it as a challenge to push himself further. He is also such a gentleman; he does not have any bad habits or hang out with the wrong crowd. Honestly, he would make any woman proud!"

Catherine and Cynthia stared at the side of Annie they had never seen before; even the three daughters had a look of surprise. Annie had never acted this way towards a guy, apart from accounts Catherine had heard when Annie was with her husband. But the way she blushed and smiled while talking about this guy, it was almost as if…

**_Wait, it cannot be!_**

"_Oh, you have a crush on the boy!_" Cynthia squealed loudly as she barely held back her excitement at the way Annie was expressing her thoughts about the boy. That got her attention; she paused from recounting what she knew about the person, before she went absolutely red from embarrassment. "No, it isn't like that! It's just that he's a really nice young man, who could be a good son for any women out there?!" She clapped her hands on her mouth as she flushed even further, to the point Catherine was a little worried if she would pass out soon.

"Oh, it is fine, Annie!" Cynthia purred as she directed a teasing leer at her. "It's fine for you to have a crush on a young man who could make you feel good in more ways than one" The expression on Annie's face was indescribable; it was remarkable how she arranged her features to perfectly convey shock, horror, mortification, anger, fear and bemusement.

"_Cynthia, you should not be saying such things!_" Catherine scolded her, her face flushed at the implications Cynthia was saying at Annie, and at the same time embarrassment at the image she had of Annie 'doing it' with a young man. _Damn it, what was she thinking?!_

"Miss Aleston, I knew you are a woman who enjoys the company of men, but this is a new low even for you." Floris frowned with great displeasure at Cynthia, who gave a sheepish smile. "Indeed, although I can understand your preferences of males are wide ranging, to say that of our mother is a little much." Carissa gave her agreement with a big scowl, making Cynthia turn her head to the side. "Cynthia…" Villian gave the final blow to Cynthia's behavior as she stared at her with teary eyes.

"Oh come on, I was joking!" Cynthia tried to lighten up the mood with that statement. Then her face turned mischievous as she added a little more. "Besides, I think you girls would need to be open for these type of things, and …"

"Miss Aleston" a voice stopped the accusations that were about to ensue, with Cynthia not looking too excited as she did earlier. Slowly everyone turned their heads to face Annie, who was giving off a bit of pressure despite the smile and the closed eyes. "Are you insulating that I am an amorous woman who preys on young unsuspecting men?" She was being polite when she asked that, yet there was a certain tone hidden in the words that made Cynthia wince and the daughters to quiver. Catherine herself was feeling cold sweat on her neck; it had been a while, but it seemed that Cynthia had finally succeeded in doing the one thing that nobody should do: make Annie angry. If she were to be angered, **'that'** comes out.

"No, Mrs Anderson" Cynthia say that in a very soft voice, trying to play up her manners to appease Annie. "Oh" Annie continued to smile while talking. "Yet you seemed rather determined to paint an image of me being the type who wants to go after young men." At this point, one could almost see a black aura coming from behind her. There was a squeak of terror, but no one could tell who it was; they were too busy focusing on the black aura that was building behind her.

"Furthermore, to do that in front of my little girls, that is very naughty of you, Miss Aleston" Annie's smile got a little thinner as the haunting sounds of church bells started to ring out of the black aura. That was the cue for everyone to move; Floris being the closest to the door, got up quickly to open it, and followed by Carissa and Villian shortly after. Catherine, wanting no part in the ensuing bloodbath that was to come, started to rise from her seat, only to be grabbed by the hand by a very frantic Cynthia.

"Wait, Catherine! Please don't leave me behind!" Cynthia pleaded as she held fast on Catherine's arm. Catherine was torn between helping Cynthia and just leaving her behind, but that decision got taken up by Annie, who placed a hand on Cynthia's shoulder, making her jump. "Ara, Ara, you shouldn't be getting others involved. Catherine at least knows when to fold and what to say, so you should not drag her into your mess." As she said that, one could see a hooded figure starting to appear from the dark aura she was exuding, with a creepy tone of laughter emitting from it. Cynthia paled and loosened her grip on Catherine's arm. Catherine wasted no time; she moved her arm away and quickly got to the door.

"It has been a while, Cynthia, but I guess a reminder is in order." Annie's voice got creepily more cheerful as the sounds of church bells and laughter got louder. "Wait, Mrs Anderson, I am so sorry! Please don't bring that one out!" Cynthia wailed as she huddled in her seat. Catherine managed to get to the other side where the three daughters were hugging each other for comfort, and started to close the door.

"Let me remind you again, that saying such distasteful things about me and giving my daughters bad influence is strictly…" Catherine sped up the closing process, ignoring the whimpering from Cynthia like she was being condemned to be in a room with a psychopathic killer. "_Prohibited._" Catherine managed to close the door in time to hear the final word of Cynthia's doom.

At this point, the creepy laughter and the church bells were deafening, only to be matched by the cries by Cynthia. "Oh my god, anything but the bleeding eyes!" Catherine brought her hands out and did a small prayer. 'Cynthia, your sacrifice will not be forgotten!'

"Amen!" The three daughters muttered as they crossed themselves.

"What is going on here?" A voice made the girls turn to view a comforting sight. An old man just walked out from one of the nearer cabins and was now walking towards them. For a man reaching his 50s, he was seriously built; his frame was taking up the entire corridor. He was dressed smartly in an office suit that was somewhat straining against his muscular frame. His natural black hair, unusual for any Italian, was stricken with several strands of silver at the sides. He had a hard looking face that showed his years, but all that was somewhat softened by his eyes that conveyed a joyful light as he saw the girls in front of him.

"UNCLE BLANDELLI!" The three daughters squealed and dashed to hug him, causing him to step backwards a bit and grabbing the handle bar at the side to stop himself from falling.

"Hey, you girls! Haha, you girls have grown so much!" Genaro gave a loud chuckle as he beamed on the three girls. It was obvious to anyone that the girls pretty much have Genaro wrapped around their fingers, but in a good way. Genaro for his part was willing to dote on them provided they don't try to abuse that right. That was unneeded, since the girls adored him and so they don't ask much from him. Even Carissa dropped her frown and showed a very radiant smile at him.

"Good day to you, Mr Blandelli." Catherine greeted while offering her hand. "Hey, Catherine, you have grown too." Genaro gave a smile at her as he shook her hand. "I hope you girls been eating right, it won't do you good if you were to skip meals now." The girls all nodded as he gave another loud chuckle. He always tended to say things out loud about their health and stuff, but it was in a good way, so they took it in stride.

"So where are Annie and Cynthia?" Genaro asked while twisting his head to see where they were. "Cynthia is currently getting a lecture from Mrs Anderson, with a side help from 'that'" Catherine gestured with her thumb and grimaced again at the thought of her getting it from Annie.

Genaro's face froze at that statement, before glancing at the cabin where the sounds of Cynthia's whimpering could be heard alongside the now diminishing sounds of mournful church bells. "So, Cynthia brought 'that' out of Annie?" Catherine gave a grin of sympathy at the expression on Genaro. It would appear that Genaro had first-hand experience of the terror Annie could give once she was angered.

"Let's head to my side then." He turned rather quickly despite his bulk and head back to his cabin, with the girls trailing behind him. For a man of his size, he moved quite nimbly in the tight corridor leading to his cabin. Despite the jet being one of the new air bus models, meaning they have more room to make the individual cabins and passage room, the corridors were not made for a man of Genaro's frame size. Still, it did not take long to get to his cabin that he had all to himself and slide the door open for them to go through, before coming in after them.

"So, how is it going for you girls?" Genaro asked as he sat next to Catherine, opposite of the 3 sisters. "We have been doing okay, Uncle" Carissa replied as she reclined in her chair to get more comfortable. "Villian has managed to pass the IS Entrance exams, so if it works out, you might see her with her own suit." Villian looked down in embarrassment as Genaro beamed at her. "Oh, congratulations Villian, I hope that I can see you in an IS suit." Genaro smiled even further as Villian gave another shy smile in return, before turning to Catherine. "So, how are things at your end?"

For the next few minutes, Catherine and Genaro talked about small things like how Cynthia managed to get new equipment or how the girls were handling civilian life. Occasionally one of the sisters put in a comment about certain matters happening; even Villian added a word or so to the occasion. It was nice to have relaxing chats without having to be serious for work. Or dodging bullets for that matter.

"So what can you tell us about this meeting?" Floris asked suddenly, making Genaro and Catherine pause in their conversation. Technically, the girls were supposed to be on holiday, while the meeting was supposed to be top secret, so Catherine could not tell them so much about it. Genaro being one of the few with direct ties to that matter was obviously not in a position to say much.

Perhaps their uncertainties were shown on their faces, as Carissa said with a bored tone. "Oh, you don't need to hold back too much on us, we know about the five supposed IS Units already." Genaro and Catherine snapped their attention to her so quickly they popped a bone in the sockets. 'How the heck did she know that?!' Catherine thought while wincing as she massaged her neck.

"I kind of check the papers that mother left on her desk the other day." Carissa continued with her bored tone. 'After that, I ask Floris about it if she knew anything. And it was pretty obvious, considering all the big names in the IS Field and military are gathering together so as to deal with some IS matter. And if a senator and Uncle Blandelli had to be in on this together with a few other CEOs, it had to be pretty major." Carissa gave something of a victory smile at the awe-struck faces on the adults. "So spill the details for us?"

Genaro gave a bit of a resigned chuckle as he shook his head while clutching it. Catherine herself closed her eyes to focus her mind and decide on what to say. Never mind the fact that Carissa sneak a peek at confidential information, she was able to deduce the severity of the issue at hand. It was in a way obvious to anyone who has a hand in the IS Field that something must have turned up if the big names are coming together to deal with the situation.

"If you really want us to tell you, there are some conditions for you to adhere to." Catherine gave this statement as she exchanged a glance with Genaro. "Firstly, we can only tell you certain parts of the information we have. Secondly, you are not to tell anyone of this. Is that understood?" The girls nodded as they gave their attention to them.

How messed up can this situation be?

* * *

"Okay, that's quite a problem." Carissa said a little lamely after Catherine and Genaro finished explaining.

Despite their reservations, it would appear that the sisters took the news a little better than they anticipated. Nevertheless, it was clear that they did not expect the situation to be this severe. Floris for one was taking it a little hard; being someone who was privy to certain trade secrets, she was not pleased at the idea someone was able create new cores and frames, and just send them out for no known purpose.

"Now you see why we can't tell you; we cannot be sure of who is responsible, or for that matter, we are not even sure of whether these are truly IS units." Genaro said as he took a sip of the apple cider that was at his side.

"Erm, I don't know much about all of these serious things." Villian said a little softly. "But the fact that those machines came out to deal with the border attacks and the incident at Dakota, would that not make whoever built them on our side?" Since she was the least in touch with IS matters, she was not too affected by the idea of new units appearing.

"That would be nice if that were the case." Genaro gave a patient smile as he started explaining. "But the fact of the matter is, someone has built units that have the firepower and potential strength to go toe-to-toe with some of the strongest IS units and representatives around. Not to mention the motives are unknown as of now; they could be doing all of this just to show off the fact they can do all of that, and that no one knows who is the one who did all of it."

"There's also the issue we do not know the number of these units there are, or if they are even IS units." Catherine added as she put down her bottle of juice at the arm-rest. "So far we know there are 5 units, each with specific weaponry and functionality. What we can tell you is that they have the capabilities to go anywhere, even in water." Catherine gave a grim expression as she gathered her thoughts for the next part. "As for whether they are IS-units? That has problems on both scales. On the one hand, if they are IS units, that would mean that someone had the capabilities to create the frame and possibly replicate an IS Core to do so. On the other hand, if they are not IS units, that would mean someone had enough knowledge to reverse-engineer the technology and created something that could go against IS, basically an 'anti-IS' unit."

"So that's why you called for this meeting?" Floris asked as she straightened in her seat. "You wanted to test them to see if any have any motives to do such a thing?" Genaro nodded at her questions. That was the other reason, to see if any of them had some reaction regarding the news of the units, and to see if any of them had the right areas of expertise to build them.

The sober mood soon got broken by Carissa stretching her arms and turning to Genaro with a mischievous smile. "Speaking of which, what can you tell us about the young man who is to appear at the summit?" The glint in her eyes made Catherine a little wary of her. When she has that glint and that smile, that usually means a lot of teasing.

"Hmm, you mean that Craig kid?" Genaro raised an eyebrow at the question. "He is one of the CEOs coming over due to his research in the IS Core. His area of expertise included the medical background he has." Genaro folded his arms as he contemplated on whatever information he had on him. "He is a bit of a rising star in the IS Field, mainly because of the breakthroughs that he and his former partner were able to make in the frame and core research. And unlike those fools" He gave an annoyed expression. "Who insisted on developing the IS to maximise their military strength, Craig is the only one who tried a different approach to helping others. He used his research to create a totally different range of prosthetics and even prototypes on artificial organs to give to the disabled and patients in need of organ transplant." Genaro gave big smile as he said that. "I remembered meeting a couple of his guards and staff who worked for him; each of them had some type of attachment or organ that he gave to them free-of-charge, and regularly maintains them. I do know that all of them are really grateful to him, so they insisted on paying him back by working for him and helping him out at areas he is not familiar with."

He gave a chuckle at this point. "Oh yeah, that one time I happened to meet him, he was having a small argument about this woman trying to repay him for helping her son. He insisted she does not have to do so, but she would not take no for an answer, so after my visit she apparently became an assistant for one of the departments in his company."

"I see." Carissa said thoughtfully as the girls digested the information that was given. Then she gave a teasing smirk at Genaro. "Well Uncle, I think you may have some competition when it comes to getting mother's attention."

Catherine had to admit, she got to give Carissa some credit for timing that statement; it was just as Genaro was taking a big gulp of the apple cider. The end result was him spitting the liquid across the cabin, missing Villian by an inch, and him getting into an extended fit of coughing.

"Bhh.. Bhh, what do you mean by that?!" Genaro nearly shouted that in embarrassment. It was clear to everyone that Genaro had some form of attraction to Annie, but he held it back in regards to his friendship to her and Howard, even more so after his death. Still, Catherine and the others often mused at the sight of him being a little flustered in front of her when Annie unconsciously complemented him or done something that got past his defences. Carissa and Cynthia in particular enjoyed teasing him on that part.

"Hmm, it seems that mother has a bit of interest in this Craig person; she was praising him quite a bit." Carissa started explaining with a keen eye on Genaro's expression. The other girls were not bothering to hide their curiosity as to how Genaro would react to her teasing; even Villian was leaning forward slightly to see it. "So I'm just wondering how you would react to it, Uncle Blandelli"

The retort that was to come out of Genaro's mouth got interrupted when the jet suddenly lurched violently, temporarily lifting everyone from their seats before they crashed onto the floor hard. Villian nearly knocked her head against the arm rest if not for the timely save by Genaro who braced her head with his hand.

"What the **hell** was that?!" Carissa swore as she struggled to entangle herself from the small pile of bodies on top of her. Normally Catherine would scold her for using such language, but in this case she herself was a little tempted to let off some steam. "Is everybody alright?" Catherine asked as she massaged her aching head. She could feel a bump starting to form where her head hit the ground, which was thankfully covered in thick carpeting.

"Apart from a few bruises, we should be fine." Genaro replied as he got the sisters seated back to their chairs, before going to his and getting out a chilled bottle to place at his forehead. Catherine laid her head back on the cushion to try and lessen the pain. She guessed the jet must have hit some turbulence that caught the pilots off-guard, so they were unable to avoid it completely. But still…

Any other thoughts got interrupted by the change in the humming sound that came from the jet's engine. Normally she would ignore it, but the suddenness of the volume and the slight feeling of slanting made Catherine look to the window next to Genaro. To her surprise she could see the ocean at her seat, with the occasional clouds covering the window.

"Why are we dropping altitude? We shouldn't be there for another 3 hours." Catherine frowned as she reluctantly got up from the seat to get to the window. True, this was one of the latest sonic jets made for continental travelling, and despite Justin's complaints, the jet was already halfway to its destination. That being said, it was still too early for them to have arrived at the airport.

"Maybe we better have a word with the pilot or the staff; there could have been a problem from that earlier lurch." Genaro replied as he got up from his seat and headed towards the door. But just as he was about to grab the handle, the door suddenly got pulled back hard enough to nearly get dislodged from the rail hinges. That barely registered in everyone's head before the sound of metallic clicking brought their eyes to the object the man at the door was holding in front of him. With a jolt, Catherine recognised the ponytail and the tattoo sticking out of the collar of his shirt. This was the flight attendant she bumped into earlier when they left the airport.

"Forgive me ladies and gentleman, but I'm afraid I would need you to come with me for a short while." The guy coolly stated his words as he pointed the gun straight at Genaro's chest. This was not the same nervous man from earlier; he was completely calm and determined to take them as hostages. "Oh, and just so we are clear." He stepped back a little to give himself room in order to deal with any mishaps.

**_"This is not a request; you will be coming with me now."_**

* * *

Part 3

Ichika met up with the others at the conference room located a little away from the stadium. It took quite a while to get there, mostly due to the fact it was in an area students don't frequently go to, and secondly, the conference room was located at the top level of the building that required multiple ID checks to ensure no intruders. It was an impressive room to say the least; this was roughly four times the size of his room, with a large table in the center and chairs around it to sit on. It offered a bird's eye view of the entire west side of IS Academy, and was positioned in such a manner that sunlight can be used for natural lightning, without being overly glaring.

"You're late." Chifuyu said the moment he entered the room. Ichika grimaced as he apologized and made his way to the nearest chair. _Honestly, was she expecting him to finish that task in record time? It was impossible to clean up the arena in record time with an IS strapped to your back, let alone 3 in total!_

Once, she confirmed everyone's presence, Chifuyu pressed a button at the podium to activate shutters at the roof to dim the lighting, and a second button to project a screen at the wall. A third brought images and schematics to the screen, alongside photos of people.

"About an hour ago, the private jet carrying the representatives of various IS corporations and the IS Council members was hijacked by some unknown terrorists. The representatives were supposed to be coming to Japan for a summit of a certain matter that occurred over the past couple of weeks."

"Currently, we do not know the numbers or motives of the terrorists. They have yet to make any demands. So we are assuming that they are just holding them hostage until they made contact with any of the governments involved with the summit."

There was a bit of silence in the room as the others took a while to digest the information. Ichika was a little confused as the information got streamed to the small screens that were built into the table. Why were they being told this?

"Orimura-Sensei, I don't mean to be rude, but why are you telling us this? Shouldn't the higher authorities be handling this?" Charlotte voiced out the question in everyone's head as they finished processing the information.

"For one thing, the other countries are hanging back to check the situation in case of the terrorists contacting them first, and since the representatives are supposed to be arriving here, we are the closest to reach them if they need assistance." Chifuyu explained as she brought up the sonar maps for the surrounding air space. "Secondly, I and a few others are directly involved with the summit, so I will need to be on hand for this. Lastly, there is a situation where we need to be aware of" Chifuyu made an expression like she sucked on a particularly bitter orange. "_Certain_ third-parties."

Everyone gave a puzzled expression at her statement, but a quick glance at her expression silenced everyone's words. Whatever or whoever it was, it seemed to be putting Chifuyu on edge and the last thing they needed was for her to blow up on them.

"Current location?" Laura asked as she quickly gazed through the information, her face and manner switched according to her military mentality.

"It is roughly 2300 miles from Okinawa Airport, and 23000 feet in the air." Chifuyu replied as she brought up the map for Japan's air space. "Since we do not know the situation with the plane, we have to assume that the terrorists would take the plane to a different location to land or, in the worst case scenario, they would continue flying the plane until it runs out of fuel." The others gave a grim expression at that thought. No one liked the idea of a plane crashing due to lack of fuel and the foolishness of those terrorists.

"Can you tell us about the summit? Maybe that is what the terrorists are after?" Charlotte asked as she brought up the documents on the passengers on board. "Regarding that matter, it is top secret." Chifuyu replied back. "I can only say that it involves matters regarding the current technology and" she paused while giving a quick glance at Ichika. "Certain 'equipment' that needs checking up"

_'Certain equipment needing check-ups?'_ Ichika raised an eyebrow as he caught the glance Chifuyu gave him. _'Is it about my Byakushiki? Maybe they needed to review about my status as an IS pilot? Or is there something else?'_ Ichika paused in his thoughts as a memory of a certain photo intruded in his mind. Wait; was that what she meant about 'certain equipment' and 'third parties intruding'?

"In any case, we cannot make too many assumptions about this." Chifuyu's voice brought him back to reality as she continued explaining about the situation. "We have been tasked to deal with this, so everyone is to prepare themselves for the operation at hand. I have taken the liberty of calling your respective countries to send over the necessary equipment via speed package, so you can handle the equalizers and packages later."

"All of you are to head to the hangers at Arena 2. I will get maintenance crews to check on your units and get them ready in 15 minutes. Considering the current statuses of your units, we would be taking a cargo plane to fly us near the jet before we deploy. Remember, this is a rescue mission, not a fight. Your units have yet to fully recover, so although we are to do this, that does not mean you should just recklessly fly out there. If you are running low on power or your unit starts to fail, you are to return immediately. **_NO EXCEPTION_**."

_"DISMISSED!"_

Ichika's thoughts were all over the place as he walked out of the room. Never mind the part about them having to go out on a rescue mission without any backup, they had to do it with their IS units still in need of major maintenance! He could only pray that at least some help would be nice in this situation.

Little did he know he was going to get that answer sooner than expected.

* * *

In a certain dark room, a small monitor on a desk was the only source of light. A soft beeping tone and words appearing on the screen were the only signs to indicate some type of activity. With a louder beeping sound, a dim light started to illuminate the room, revealing several holding chambers aligned to the wall sides, each marked with a roman numeral and other writing just below it. With a low humming sound, 2 chambers from the left side and 1 from the right started to move away from the wall, guided by a track on the roof. With another beeping sound, the monitor started showing a series of codes and commands, before blanking out for a second, then more text started showing.

**_[Mission Status]_**

**_[The private jet carrying the Anderson Family, 25 security guards, 1 American senator, Company representatives and CEOs has been hijacked by unknown assailants 1 hour ago. Numbers: Unknown. Motives: Unknown.]_**

**_[Original destination: Japan's Okinawa Airport. Current situation: Still closing in on Japan's airspace, but possible re-routing of jet to separate airport.]_**

**_[Current Location: 2000 miles from Okinawa Airport, 23, 000 feet in the air.]_**

**_[Possible interference from IS Academy. Likely targets: first-year IS Representative Candidates. Top Priority personnel Orimura Chifuyu, is to be avoided at all costs.]_**

**_[Beginning preparations of following units and insertion of reactor cores]_**

**_[Mark 12: Dual. Prepare extra beam clips and retrofit with jet booster]_**

**_[Mark 17: JetStream. Prepare leg boosters' attachments]_**

**_[Prototype Mark 23 to be used by pilot, top priority provision]_**

**_[Launching rescue mission in T-minus 10 minutes]_**

* * *

**=====Author's Notes=====**

Well then, the story is finally about to get some action! I will be looking through Iron Man movies and Gundam to get some ideas for the action to come. Who knows, maybe I should add in a "Shoot to Thrill" moment? XD.

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and I get a new chapter out soon!


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:**

**Hey guys, here's the new chapter for Iron Stratos.**

**I apologize for the lateness of this upload. I have just finished my exams and currently trying to get a job while waiting for results.**

**Without further ado, let's start the chapter!**

* * *

**=Chapter Start=**

Part 1

"Okay, listen up! We are currently at 23, 000 feet in the air and roughly 10 minutes away from the drop-point. You all will be assisting the IS Representatives in this operation. We are to ensure that no one gets left behind and no one gets hurt in that plane. The only bodies I want to see are those scumbags who take hostages for kicks. Do I make myself clear, Rough-Necks?!"

"**SIR YES SIR!**" The soldiers bellowed their reply as they saluted in perfect synchronization. Ichika could only sigh in resignation at the sight of those soldiers being so energetic while their commander continued barking orders and rallying the troops for the mission at hand.

Currently he and the other girls were on the transport plane that was bringing them close to the private jet in order to get to it. Normally, they would be able to fly directly to a moving target (with him have to be piggybacked by someone), but considering how much damage their units had sustained, it was deemed necessary to fly them close to the plane before they deploy their suits. Last thing they needed was to fly half way before falling a couple thousand into the water or solid ground.

In addition to that, Chifuyu figured they could use some extra help in this matter, since they were mostly trained for combat and not hostage situations, so she decided to reign in the military for their cause. Kanzashi was left back at IS Academy for 2 reasons. One was due to her unit still being an experimental model based off an old Uchigane design, so hers needed more adjustments before it could be operational. The second reason was for her to be handling communications channels for them.

The trip there was not unpleasant to say the least. For one thing, the soldiers came to talk to him and occasionally asked for his autograph and to have a picture taken, which was a little new and pleasant for him, considering how every person who came to him were girls who often fought over him for some reason. He still shuddered at the memory of the time girls went to him some time after his photo shoot with Houki. That was a memory involving a karaoke bar, a few drinks, a couple of lasso ropes and an angry mob of guys that he vowed to seal away in his mind forever and not talk about it.

As for the others, it was clear that they had some experience with the attention; Cecilia and Rin practically started posing and giving out autographs almost automatically, while Charlotte was being polite as she slowly talked to the guys. As for Houki and Laura, they were somewhat overwhelmed or aloof at the attention given to them, but nevertheless their attitudes seemed to attract the guys even more. Ichika could have sworn that he heard one of them saying "Queen" after he got his autograph from Laura.

In any case, he just hoped that they got to the drop zone soon, so that he can get this nervousness out of his system, and if it can stop Laura from alternating her sights on the soldiers and him; the last thing he needed was Laura getting some weird ideas for him.

* * *

Corporal Damon was resisting the temptation to let out a sigh of frustration as he watched the ensuing argument, wondering if he needed to step in to make sure it does not escalate into a fight that could cause the jet to crash.

When the jet landed in Dallas, the 4 of them went to knock out the crew changing over and took their place, leaving only the pilots to get them up in the air. However, as one of his companions pointed out, the passengers brought along more security guards than anticipated, since some of their targets went to Japan by a separate route. After consulting with General Gregor about the numbers, it was decided that one of the men would remain on the second plane for emergencies, while Fenix and two others called in the last minute would go assist in commandeering the jet. It was a close call; they barely got on the plane before it left the airport, and with their increased numbers were able to take over the jet with few problems.

One of the precautions taken was to activate the device immediately after loading it on board to ensure no one had any IS equipment activated while they were taking over the plane. That was some good thinking on Fenix's part; there were a couple of guards that were guarding Anita Anderson, one of their primary targets, who had equipment similar to IS Units, and would made things difficult. There were also a few other females guards that had similar equipment that could derail their operation. Even so, it was a bit of a struggle to get them and other guards subdued, before herding everyone to one of the larger rooms, but it went relatively well.

One other concern came from the pilot who managed to send a distress message before Fenix stormed into the cockpit and take him and the co-pilots captive. Fenix estimated that it would likely take an hour or so before the authorities rallied up the force needed to find them, so they still had time to prepare.

_So why was he feeling the waves of an incoming headache now?_

"Say that again, you damn bastard!" A half-Mexican man in military briefs snared at the other soldier in front of him. Like the others, his hair was tied in a ponytail and a tattoo of a scorpion was on the left side of his neck, but was distinguished from the rest with his ear piercings and a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek.

"No problem Sanchez, I will say as many times as I have to!" The other soldier snapped back with prejudice in his tone. He had blonde hair and a tribal tattoo across his left eye. "You are not to touch any of the females for your sick games. We are here for the operation, NOT to engage in your twisted hobbies!"

_'Oh yeah'_, Damon thought privately as he finally gave in to the temptation of massaging his temple to relieve his headache. _'That's why.'_

Juan Carlos Sanchez, otherwise known as 'Diablo Sanchez', was once a high ranking officer from the American Marine Corps who was highly decorated for his achievements in the military. But that was somewhat marred by his almost barbaric methods on the battlefields that made even his fellow officers a little wary of him, hence the nickname. At the same time, he had a lust for women that seemed unquenchable; he earned the moniker 'Diablo 23' because when they were convicting him of war crimes, they could only tie Sanchez to 23 cases of women disappearing and being found in another area in a state that had investigators appalled at the atrocity.

Quite honestly, no one wanted him on this mission; True, they themselves were no role models as many were either dishonorably discharged or were laid off due to them disobeying orders, but most of them was due to disobeying orders that were immoral, or they were forced to make choices that were either to save civilians and lose the fight or to win at the cost of thousands of innocent lives. Damon himself got laid off due to abandoning a mission in order to save a family of four from raids performed by the enemies he faced.

Sanchez on the other hand was someone who seemed to enjoy bathing in the blood of his enemies and victims, if the accounts Damon heard were of any indication. Not to mention the fact that he had this questionable obsession to turn any female in his sights into a state that supposedly made one of the most hardened investigators Damon knew to throw up.

General Gregor was reluctant himself, but the unexpected attack on the cartel at the Amazon led authorities to the arrest of some of their men, reducing their numbers severely, so he had no choice but to break Sanchez and a couple of others out of prison in exchange for their services. But he did make it very clear that if Sanchez were to go out of line in any way, they will take him out.

And right now, looks like they may get a chance at that.

The argument started after they got everyone into one of the conference cabins in the plane. The others were checking their documents to ensure they have everyone when one of them pointed out vocally about Anita Anderson's profile. Damon could understand their surprise when he recalled the information; most would not associate a 20 year looking young lady with an admittedly terrific body to be a 45 year old mother of three and a member of the IS Council.

Unfortunately, Sanchez was there as well, so when he went to check on that information, well... Damon was not there earlier so he was not too sure, but based on the description given by some of the others who were guarding the hostages, it was not too hard to imagine the type of 'checks' Sanchez gave to Anita Anderson and her daughters.

At least the guy Sanchez was arguing with, Corporal Chris was there guarding the hostages, and he made it particularly clear that the women were not to be touched in any way. From there, the argument escalated to the point where one of the other guards had to call for Sergeant Fenix to handle the situation, something Damon was thankful for. Apart from General Gregor, Sergeant Fenix was perhaps the only other person who could put down Sanchez easily if necessary, which made him and Sanchez bitter enemies from the beginning, somewhat cemented with the fact that Sanchez took every opportunity to disobey any orders made by Gregor, and that grated Fenix the wrong way.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A shout made everyone wince and making the two soldiers stop their argument, as Fenix marched into the room and got between the two of them with a look that made Damon very glad that he was not on the receiving end of it. "May I ask, what the **_hell _**are the two of you doing standing around and arguing?"

Chris jabbed his thumb at Sanchez with a scowl. "He's the problem. This guy's trying to do that thing of his again, and he's getting the hostages extremely worked up because of it."

"Hah! Says the guy who has issues with his manhood all the time." Sanchez replied with a sneer on his face. "What was that, bastard?!" Chris turned around while gripping his sidearm. "Hah! Looks like you need a few more holes in the head if you can't hear that!" Sanchez reverse-gripped his knife in his hand while using the other to egg Chris on.

"I said that's enough from the both of you!" Fenix growled out that statement. "Right now, we are handling an operation, not a goddamn fistfight!" Turning to Chris, he said "Chris you will continue staying here guarding them okay? And as for you..." Turning to Sanchez, he asked in a threatening tone and an expression that got everyone a little wary, "Here's a question: can you fly?"

"No, I can't, so what..." Sanchez asked derisively only to cut off by Fenix's next words.

"So here's the deal: I despise rapists who go around murdering women for kicks. For me, you're somewhere between a cockroach and that white stuff that accumulates at the corner of your mouth when you're really thirsty. But, in your case, I'll make an exception. So remember this when you look at her or the other women on the plane. Either you keep your little friend from flying out of your pants" Fenix pointed with deliberate intention with his handgun. "Or you will be flying out of this plane. _Do I make myself clear_?"

There was a tense moment in which the two of them were staring with each other with a large amount of venom in their eyes. After a while, Sanchez gave a loud 'tch!' and walked out of the room, pausing to give another glare at Fenix. "Yeah, damn clear, asshole." before grabbing the handle and slammed the door shut.

Fenix took a moment to glare at the door, before taking in a deep breath and letting it out as a big sigh, then turning to the hostages tied up. "My apologies, ladies and gentlemen, for seeing such a distasteful sight. Please understand, that we are currently carrying out an operation which requires a bit of 'manhandling'. I only ask for your cooperation, and I promise that no harm will come to you all, even from 'certain people'" He ended that with a face like he swallowed a sour grape, which pretty much said what he thought of Sanchez.

After that, he quickly gave an order to Chris and the other guard to lock the doors before heading out. Damon followed soon after, with a thought that the operation was going to become a major problem later.

* * *

Catherine let out a quiet sigh to ease her tensed nerves. It was not much, but she could not be picky of the situation.

She was still trying to wrap her head around the situation she and the others were in. When the fake steward came to take them hostage, she tried to activate her equipment to create a shield, but halfway in the mobilization, she suddenly felt a feedback that nearly knocked her out, giving the person the chance to force them out of the cabin and move them to the conference room, where some of the others were tied up, soon to be joined by Annie and Cynthia who seemed to have experienced the same problem but got a bigger feedback.

Things did not go too well when the Mexican came into the room later to check on the the entire group. She recognized him from the newspaper as one of the few prisoners who escaped recently from the military state prison. She did not know too much about him, but the little she managed to find out did little to comfort her.

She managed to hold herself back from cringing when he directed his eyes at her and the other females; she felt like the guy was stripping her with his eyes, and her body was laid bare for him to feast on. It was particularly trialing for the three sisters, particularly Villian, who looked like she was going to faint when the guy directed his attention at her. Genaro and the few kinder men who were next to her shifted as best they could while bounded in order to shield her from his attention, all the while glaring at him.

Thankfully, it seemed that the other soldiers do not share his lust for women; one of them stood in between him and them to block his view, while the other took out his radio to call the person in charge of this operation as the Mexican started to argue with the soldier called Chris. The situation got to breaking point when the apparent person in charge came to defuse the argument.

Now that Fenix got that man away, Catherine started to reassess the situation. It was pretty obvious that these men had some sort of device that could jam signals related to IS equipment, and based on the states Cynthia and the other guards were in, had the effective range and power to do so. Including Fenix, there were at least 7 in total that took over the plane, and supposedly a few others elsewhere on standby in another country. Due to their numbers, the hostages were split into the two conference rooms for easier management.

The only thing she wondered was why they decided to hijack the plane with them on-board. _Was it related to the private summit? Or maybe it was a coincidence they chose this plane?_

"So what the hell is going on?" A voice broke Catherine's thoughts as she turned to see a groggy Cynthia trying to get up, which is problematic in her current state and the fact that her hands and legs were tied up securely at the back. She slipped and banged her head against the wall a little hard, wincing from the pain.

Amusingly in this situation, Catherine thought of the many men who tried courting Cynthia. They would probably faint from blood loss through the nose if they were to see her in that position; her hands were tied really tightly to ensure she does not try to escape, with the end result of her considerable assets being made more prominent. Add to the look of being vulnerable, and most men would probably be sent to hospitals for blood transfusions, but with very blissful expressions.

Before Catherine could reply to Cynthia, a sudden stomping outside the room stopped her words. With a loud crash, the door slammed open to show one of the other soldiers looking extremely tensed.

"Guys, get ready!" We have some company on the way!" He shouted before heading back outside. His words changed the mood of the room; all the soldiers steeled their faces while gripping their weapons tightly, while the hostages started showing hopeful expressions. Only Catherine and some of the other security guards were frowning; there was no way this could go well easily, and they knew it.

* * *

"Okay, saddle up people! We have arrived at the drop point, so look sharp everyone!" The commander shouted as he returned from the cockpit where he was conversing with the pilot. Ichika gulped a little loud to ease his nerves, but no one could blame him for that; the others too were wrestling with their individual emotions, Laura being the only person who was totally calm, if not looking downright bored.

It took a while for them to catch up with the jet; after all they were using an older military cargo plane to chase after one of the latest continental jets capable of going supersonic in a few seconds. Because of that, they needed to make an estimate of where the jet would be in order for them to deploy their IS and chase after them. It was a very accurate estimation; they barely reached the drop-point when Chifuyu called to tell them the jet was coming within a few feet of their location. Better yet, it seemed that some of the other governments had sent some backup to help them out for this mission.

"Nervous, kid?" Ichika's thoughts got interrupted as he turned to see the soldier smiling next to him. He was one of the more senior soldiers on board the plane and his appearance suit the 'typical badass' Ichika associate with tough soldiers: the old man had ridges on his forehead that gave his face a very hardened look, complemented with strands of silver hair to show his age. He had a very muscular frame that was evidently straining against the military fatigues he had on. Ichika thought that this guy probably would not look out of place if he were given a Gatling gun and stood on top of a building like the Terminator.

"A little bit, sir" Ichika gave a weak smile as he replied. Actually he was feeling like his stomach was turned inside out and filled with firecrackers. But he figured he should try to look a little tougher in front of the soldiers.

"Ah that's understandable." The soldier nodded at his reply. "It's okay to be a little nervous at times like this. Besides, I would probably knock your head a little if you said you were not in order to look tough." He added that part with a laugh, which Ichika could only respond by giving any weak smile. Good thing he admitted being a little nervous, because the old man's arms certainly look thick enough to knock off his entire head.

"A piece of advice, kid. Don't let it get to you too much; just use it as motivation to get this job done." He held up a small photo of him with two kids, smiling as he added. "Like me, I'm doing this so I can protect my grandkids. My motivation is to see their smiling faces every time I do a good job." Ichika gave a nod as the man beamed on the photo. "For your case." The soldier paused before giving a teasing smile. "Maybe your motivation can be to look good in front of those girls, heh?"

"Hah?!" Ichika nearly shouted at him while blushing heavily. He quickly turned around to find the girls looking at him, having been attracted by the sudden sound he made. He was already red in the face to begin with, but when his eyes laid on Houki (who was carrying a puzzled expression), his face went even redder as a memory of the two intruded his mind.

_The two of them alone on the beach at night..._

_Houki asking Ichika whether he knew how she felt..._

_Houki and Ichika drawing closer to ..._

_'Damn it concentrate!'_ Ichika slapped his face a couple of times to clear his head, with the soldier chuckling at his action. _'Darn it old man, why did you have to say such a thing?!'_

"Okay, we are opening the hatch now. All you soldiers strap yourselves in now!" The commander said as he attached his harness to the reinforced pole and put his hand on the lever. That was the cue for Ichika and the others to activate their IS. Ichika shook his head to rid of the embarrassing memory and focused on activating his unit while blocking out the sounds of awe made by the soldiers as Byakushiki started taking form with a bright light. He really needed to concentrate for this mission; during the maintenance before boarding the plane, the crew commented that his unit was still prone to malfunctions.

"Okay, now that's pretty impressive." The senior soldier gave that reply as Byakushiki finished materializing its armor. Ichika could only smile back as he examined the armor one last time. At least the crew managed to fix the armor so that he should not have to worry about taking too many hits. But they did warn him that even with the repairs done, his unit still had less power than what he normally would have, so they added a timer to his system to show the amount of time he had before returning to the plane for a quick recharge.

"All right, you are clear to go!" The commander yelled as he pulled the lever. As the hatch opened, the sudden rush of air went through it, making the other soldiers clutch their harness tightly. "Good luck, kid!" The old soldier yelled while giving a thumbs up. Ichika waved back before looking forward. Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte and Laura had already flown off, leaving only Houki and him left to leave the plane. With a deep breath, Ichika boosted his thrusters and launch himself out of the plane, and into the open sky.

Ichika blinked a couple of times to get his eyes used to the bright sunshine. No matter how many times he had done this before, it was still hard to readjust his bearings in bright light. Technically speaking, Byakushiki had the functions to perform lighting differentiation to aid pilots to see in the dark or to avoid blindness, but he had yet to fully set the readings properly.

After a few more seconds of blinking, his eyes cleared a rather stunning sight: the bright blue ocean in front of him, with small patches of white cloud drifting near and around him, and the bright sunshine radiating above him and sending its rays downwards. It was scenes like this that made him glad that he could operate an IS. You don't get views like this when flying a plane.

Pity it had to be ruined by the sight of a jet that was close by and the small groups of IS flying near it. The gravity of the situation made his mood sink back down.

"Ichika, we need to get moving." Houki's voice broke through his thoughts. Turning around, he saw that Houki had managed to catch up with him and the others on time. Looking around, he could see small groups of other IS pilots coming near them, with several fighter jets coming along.

"Orimura Sensei said that we should be working with one senior pilot and her team." Charlotte said as she looked around to see who it was they were supposed to be working with. "Which one though? There are so many teams on my side, not to mention the others at yours." Rin pointed out the other groups as she too turned around to check.

"Oh, so you are the male pilot we heard so much about." A voice from the intercom made Ichika turn around to see who it was. A little to his right, several IS pilots were flying close to them, being led by a woman handling an unusual looking IS. She was definitely a foreigner; she had long pale hair trailing in the wind behind her, and her fair skin was somewhat glaring in the sunlight. To complement that, her body was wrapped in a green suit that was accentuating her hourglass figure very well.

Her IS was unique to say the least: her armor frame was a lot thinner than most models, covering her abdomen and limbs, and the limb armor seemed to resemble more of gauntlets and greaves, rather than the bulky armor that were common of IS. Her equipment seemed to consist of a blaster cannon fixed on the right side and a mini Gatling gun on the left.

"My name is Ellen Mira Meiz. Pleasure to meet you." Ellen gave a gentle smile that made Ichika's heart skip a beat. "Ah, my name is Ichika Orimura, it's nice to meet you too." Ichika automatically bowed his head as he returned her greetings.

"Ellen Mira Meiz? As in the American Representative Pilot of EXCOM Dynamics?" Charlotte asked with her eyes wide open. Ellen gave her acknowledgment with a smile. "You know who she is, Char?" Ichika asked through the intercom.

"She's the test pilot for EXCOM Dynamics; they are field-testing a three-generation prototype for mass-production." Char pointed to the green armor frame that Ellen had and the white frame versions that her co-pilots were having. "She's also one of the top American IS pilots around. I believe she was one of the favorites to take the top spot."

_'Oh, so she should know Natasha Fairs.'_ Ichika thought back to the first time he first met the American Representative. So that would mean this woman was a strong pilot to be considered one of the best.

"True, but it's a good thing I did not get chosen; I'm not that good with publicity." Ellen waved her hand while smiling. "Besides, don't think the cameras would like me." She added that while sticking out her tongue. _'That's a rather cute gesture of hers'_, Ichika thought privately.

"Is it really that cute?" Ellen asked while smiling at the sight of Ichika shaking his head in denial. _Why was it every female seemed to know what he was thinking?!_

"I'm currently one of the few handling the situation, so you guys will be under my command for now until the situation calls for something drastic." Ellen turned to Ichika and smiled. "So I hope you listen to my orders carefully, Ichika-san." She was leaning forward a little as she said she said that, which gave Ichika a very bountiful view of her assets squeezed tightly.

"Erm, yes Madam." Ichika blushed as he nodded and directed his eyes elsewhere. _He really needed to concentrate right now! _

"Kyaa, he's so cute!" The younger pilots following her squealed as they watched the interaction between the two. Ichika could only put a hand at the back of his head as he blushed heavily.

Unfortunately, this was all done in front of Houki and the rest of the girls.

"Ichika, stop flirting with them already!" Houki said with her eyes flashing dangerously as she brought out her sword in a very threatening manner.

"Ichika-san, we really should get that flirty attitude out of your system." Cecilia smiled with her eyes closed while pointing the barrel of her rifle in a threatening manner. "Yes we should" Rin gave a very scary smile as she clutched her weapon very tightly.

"Oh dear Ichika, you really are a hopeless ecchi, aren't you?" Charlotte gave her 'angel of death smile' as she gave that statement. "Ichika, you are my wife, so stop being unfaithful!" Laura declared loudly, earning her some strange looks.

"Oh my, you have such scary friends." Ellen noted as the girls got a little closer to Ichika whose face was displaying a lot of panic. She turned to the girls she was with and exchanged a teasing smile, before going to Ichika and surprising him by wrapping her arms around his. "Maybe you would like to be with this Onee-san and her friends afterwards? What do you girls say?"

"YES PLEASE!" The other pilots got around him and got into a big group hug. Ichika's red face went even redder at the feeling and sight of the women pressing their bodies against him.

**_""ICHIKA!""_** The five girls yelled at him through the intercom.

_'Somebody please help me!'_ Ichika mentally shed tears at the mess he was in.

"Erm, don't mean to interrupt your flirting and everything, but can we get this negotiations over and done with?" A voice resonated through the intercom, prompting everyone to stop their mini argument (on Ichika's side) / teasing (on Ellen's side). Ichika gratefully removed himself from the big group hug, steadfastly ignoring the glares being given by Houki and the girls, and the giggling that came from the others and the few groups near them.

"Testing, testing, can everyone hear me?" the voice resonated in the intercom, with the small sounds of thumping, like the person was hitting the mike lightly to test it. The voice seemed scrambled, so it was hard to tell whether it was a male or female speaking. "Right then, so who do I talk to for negotiations?" The voice continued in a somewhat bored tone. Those words brought the happy mood down to the ground.

"I will be the one handling the negotiations." Ellen started speaking, her expression and tone having switched to one befitting of this serious situation. "My name is Ellen Mira Meiz, to whom am I speaking to?"

"Very well then. You will be sufficient for the task then." The voice gave that reply after a pause. "My name is of no interest to you. Our conditions are pretty clear. As long you can complete the tasks given, we can ensure that no one will be hurt."

"It would largely depend on the tasks you wish for us to complete." Ellen gave that reply tersely. "Furthermore, I would require some confirmation on the conditions of the hostages."

"That's a given." With that, a "Ping!" made everyone look to their individual screens, to find a small icon referring to a video message. Ichika opened his and barely stifled a gasp as the video started showing a few people tied up on the floor, with a soldier standing guard near them. It then panned to another group of people supposedly tied up in another room.

"Satisfied?" The voice asked after the message had been played. "So here's the run-down of who we are and what we want."

"We are called the Engineers. We are the soldiers who had fought and bled for our nations, and had, under orders of our governments, gave up our lives so as to ensure everyone can be saved, yet your governments and officials continue under pretense of peace conservation, send others over in order to gain territory and wealth from the oppositions."

Ichika frowned as the voice continued speaking about the group's supposed mission and focus. He wasn't sure why, but somehow it felt like the words were scripted, yet the manner it was spoken seemed genuine. Further thoughts were broken when Ellen started speaking.

"A bold description of your group" Ellen arched an eyebrow. "Though I still see no connection to this situation."

"I don't expect you to; after all, you girls are lucky." There was a strong tone of sarcasm that rubbed everyone listening up the wrong way. "You girls do not need to know much about the back deals of governments too often. Technically, some of you would no doubt understand of what the government has probably asked of you, so I probably won't need to say it." the voice paused for a moment before continuing, a notable melancholy tone evident in his next statement. "But in the case of the young male pilot over there, I shall elaborate a little, so that he can learn what's to be expected of him in the future at hand."

"We had done many things to ensure the citizens do not have to enter the battlefield, yet you continue to send innocent men to their deaths, and continue shedding more blood. Your governments sugarcoat their speeches to send them fighting, while they stay behind in safety" The voice notably started gaining intensity as it continued. "Not to mention, for many who have fought in your wars, none had been given the recognition that was worthy of their cause. The ones who died, left forgotten by the politicians who used and discarded them. The few who lived, ended up in prisons for committing the crimes that was asked of them by the governments!"

Ichika flinched at the venom that was evident near the end of the voice's ranting. Whoever was the owner of that voice, that person did not appreciate how one's efforts to serve the country ended up being ignored or worse, used as means to justify sending the person to prisons.

"So what do you want from us?" Ellen asked, looking notably shaken at the unusual intensity of the speaker.

"You can start by releasing some of the prisoners that are currently held in the maximum prison in America, at Washington." The voice started talking, seemingly regained control over oneself. "These people have served their nations well, yet their governments used them as scapegoats in order to justify their work." Another "Ping!" sound and the sight of Ellen moving her arm meant that the speaker sent another message to her personally

"I would need to consult with the others regarding your request of your choice of prisoners. They aren't exactly" Ellen paused to find a more subtle word. "The type for us to release so easily."

Ichika nearly snorted at that statement. He was not too sure of the type of people they were asking for, but judging from the expressions on some of her companions' faces and the bits of information gathered from that conversation, it was safe to say that the type of prisoners asked to be released were not to be trifled with.

"Understood, but remember, you only have a half hour to meet this demand. The fate of the hostages rest on your decisions, and for both yours and their sakes, I would advise you _make the right choice_." The speaker said with an emphasis on the last few words.

Ellen turned to Ichika and the rest and gave a silent nod before turning around to head to one of the carriers that was with them. Ichika thought inwardly that this was going to be a rather tricky situation. Still for what's worth, it looked like some of the other IS groups had their own plans; he could see a few break off and approach the plane at its blind spots. So it would probably end quickly.

In a way, he should have avoided thinking that way.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Everyone stopped in mid-air to listen. What did the person want to add?

"Just in case you guys are planning anything." The voice paused for a moment before delivering the next message. "Here's a little incentive to NOT do so"

**"Huh?"**

**_"RRRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!"_**

"ARGH! My ears!" Ichika shouted as he attempted to put his hands to his ears, but with the headpiece in place, it was a little hard to do so. On the intercom, he could barely hear Houki and the others screaming in pain from the same sound. But his frustration soon gave way to confusion and fear when the screen in front of him started to flicker, and warning alarms and messages started to appear one by one, before Byakushiki started to sputter and drop sharply.

"Shit!" Ichika cursed as he frantically tried calling up menus for manual override, not an easy feat considering his boosters were going out-of-sync, and started to spin him around at increasingly dizzying speeds. When that did not work, he had to resort to pulling the small lever hidden at his left side of the armor to physically reboot the system temporarily. When the system temporarily went offline, his heart nearly skipped a beat. Then to his relief, the system gave the rebooting sound, and he took the chance to boost his thrusters backwards away from the plane. The screen flickered a little more before it displayed properly, the warnings screens and alarms having diminished from the increasing distance away from the plane.

"Ichika-san, are you alright?! Please respond!" Ichika winced as Kanzashi's voice blared through his intercom. It seemed that Kanzashi had been desperately trying to contact him for a while now. "Yeah, I'm fine for now." Ichika assured Kanzashi while grimacing. It was times like this he was grateful that the IS intercom systems did not extend visuals to the communications room.

"Are you girls okay?" He directed that question to Houki and the rest. He could not find them on the monitor, so he was getting a little anxious. His relief came when Houki's voice came through the intercom.

"We are fine, Ichika." Houki's voice rasped through the intercom, her exhaustion evident from the speakers. "But what the heck just happened?! Our suits suddenly went nuts on us and nearly went into lock-down!"

"It's some sort of Disruption Wave." Cecilia's voice came into the conversation, notably sounding very groggy. "It seems to be targeting the IS and induce some sort of interference that made the entire system go haywire. But to affect this many in such an open area, the range would have to be huge!"

"Is everyone all right?" Ellen's voice came through just as he spotted her on the screen. "All personnel are to retreat to a safe distance immediately. You guys will be heading back to your respective carriers to prepare an assault. The rest of you help the others!"

**_'Help the others?'_**

Ichika turned in time to see some of the senior pilots fly by, lifting several of their unconscious teammates by cables extending from the frames. To his shock, the IS units on them seemed to have reverted back to their default mode, and seemed to have lost its luster, having rusted in a reddish brown color. Ichika could not help but think:

**_'What the heck just happened?'_**

* * *

Part 2

"That worked a lot better than I thought" Sergeant Fenix could not help but give a soft whistle as he watched the pilots carry those affected the most from the demonstration. He was told about the upgrades that was given to the device, including increased range, intensity and a special targeting mechanism for focusing on a particular unit, but he did not expect it to be this effective. Considering they were in a flying jet, he had expected the effects to be diminished, but that did not seem to be a problem at all.

Admittedly, Fenix was feeling a little intimidated at the sight of all the different IS units flying around. He was also a little shocked to see the male pilot flying nearby. If he were here, that would mean that woman would be involved as well: Orimura Chifuyu.

Not exactly the type you want to mess with if it involved IS matters.

Because of that, he decided to change tactic and demonstrated the capabilities of the device. He figured that by giving them a taste of its true strength will make them realize that they have to take them seriously, and to avoid any sudden trickery to secure the hostages.

Granted, part of it got motivated from his memories stemming from the inactions his government did to deal with a small conflict that led to the deaths of many of his comrades. He felt justified to use it so as to remind them that they were at his mercy; a good thing too, given that he missed a few pilots until he saw them being carried away.

There was also a small pang of pain when he saw the male pilot flying nearby. It was stupid of him to think of it, that he knew from his heart, but he felt the kid was denied his own freedom the moment the news got out that he could pilot an IS. He had heard about the kidnapping attempt that cost Orimura Chifuyu her second win, and he could relate to the fears of it happening again.

_It also reminded him of what the government did to him and his son._

_'Damn Politicians'_ Fenix cursed as he kept the controller in his pocket and made his way back to the cockpit to relieve the guard. If this was how the governments handle things, then he would continue to oppose them in this manner.

And if they decided to take drastic measures such as blowing up the plane with the hostages on board, well... That would only prove his point that those people were the real monsters.

* * *

Catherine inwardly sighed as she watched the soldiers guarding them relaxed a little after Fenix radioed them of their success.

She could only imagine that whatever was used on her and the other guards was also the reason for the soldiers' exhilaration. For one thing, there were some who still had their equipment in standby mode, however it had turned a rusted red and it won't activate at all. Based on the mutterings by them, she gathered that their equipment had somehow been reset, and that their devices had been completely messed up. So it was not like they could do anything to help out.

Right now Catherine had other plans in mind.

"So how are you getting along?" Catherine whispered to Cynthia who had recovered enough to lay back-to-back to her.

"It's a little tough, but I think I'm just about there." Cynthia let out a slight undignified snort as she struggled with the small piece of glass in her hands. During the earlier argument, some of the glass bottles fell off the table, shattering and scattering all over the ground, one particularly big and sharp piece near Cynthia. Out of their sight, Cynthia was able to grab the piece and positioned herself such that she was leaning against Catherine. They had been alternating the process of cutting their bonds with the shard for a while now, and Cynthia's bonds were almost cut through.

"But seriously, what is with our luck?" Cynthia muttered as she moved her shoulders to get a better position. "I had hoped we could get at least one normal trip without a typical plane heist, or a boat takeover, or something coming our way."

"You're kidding right?" Catherine asked amusedly. "What part of our job description is normal?" One might question her words, but it was the truth: being the bodyguards of IS Council members, one cannot hope to have a typical security detail. When Catherine and Cynthia had taken up the duties, pretty much every trip was a bit of adventure on its own. One might wonder why they hadn't quit their jobs yet.

"Kind of reminds you of Egypt, huh?" Cynthia smiled grimly as she managed to cut through another strand of her bonds. "I think you and I have very different memories about Egypt." Catherine replied back in a deadpan tone while rolling her eyes.

Just then, the door slide open, then a soldier walked in to look at the group. Catherine recognize as one of the soldiers who came during the argument between Sanchez and Chris, who was also looking at him with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask why he was there.

"Do any of you know Michael Craig?" The soldier asked while scanning their faces for any expressions. Catherine noted the way the other soldiers turned to him with expressions of doubt and surprise at his question, and kept that bit of information stored in her head. It might come in handy later. Also she was wondering where she had heard the name before.

"Why do you want to know about Craig?" Genaro asked the guy slowly, a look of wariness on his face apparent at the question he asked. With a jolt, Catherine remembered where she had heard the last name from. Genaro was the one talking about the young CEO who was supposed to be in Japan due to a vacation.

"That's for me to know only." The solider gave that reply in a warning tone. "What I want to know is: why isn't that guy here?" For a moment, Catherine noted a small tone of desperation and a look of anxiety on his face. But before anyone could answer him, a voice drawled out.

"Seriously man, you are so paranoid." Everyone turned to where the voice came from. Leaning against the door frame was Sanchez, with his arms folded and a smirk on his face as he watched them with slated eyes. "Why don't you just tell them the real reason you want the guy?"

"This does not concern you Sanchez, so back off." The soldier growled his reply as he clenched his fist tightly. Despite the open hostility against him, Sanchez still gave a mocking smirk as he reached into his pocket and took out a small photo. "Oh, you sure about that? After all" he flipped the photo to reveal the soldier and a younger girl smiling together. "Does it not involve your little sister, Damon?"

Damon's eyes went wide as he frantically search his pockets, before he directed a very angry expression at Sanchez. "Give it back!" Sanchez smirk only went wider as he studied the photo.

"Ah, such a tragedy, to have a heart disorder at such a young age, she probably would need a heart transplant to at least live a little longer." Sanchez continued talking while taking peeks at Damon's expression, which was showing more anger by the second. "But the problem with heart transplants is that they are so costly to get the right heart for the job, and even then, the chances of success are rather low even with current technology. Not to mention the possibility of medication for the rest of her life" Sanchez paused for a moment to give the people listening in to understand the circumstances before saying the next few words. "But if she were to get an artificial heart that promises to be 100% compatible..." He left it trailing to emphasize his point.

Catherine understood as she caught a glimpse of Genaro's expression at the man's words. Based on what she had heard from Annie and Genaro, Craig was breaking new grounds of biotechnology and medicine by combining IS Technology with biology and chemistry. And if Genaro's description of Craig was correct, Craig was not the type to leave a person in dire need.

That being said, she had to wonder if Craig might make an exception with terrorists.

"Sad really." Sanchez let out a leer as he studied the photo closely. "She's such a pretty thing; it would be a bit of a shame to not meet her..."

"DAMON!" A shout drew everyone's gazes towards the soldier, who drew out his gun and pointed the barrel right at Sanchez, his expression the very picture of twisted anger. "Get your bloody hands off that photo, and GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SIS!" Damon cocked the weapon and aimed it right at Sanchez.

Despite having the gun pointed straight at his face, Sanchez smiled while mockingly raising his hands to show his surrender, before throwing the photo at Damon, who grabbed it with his free hand. "Relax, I'm not here for you." To Catherine's horror, he turned to direct a leer at Annie. "I just have a little date with an old acquaintance of mine."

He walked slowly to the group where Annie was tied up, stopping a few feet away from them, directing his eyes at Annie. There was a look of lust, and at the same time, a trace of anger in his eyes. "Good day to you, Miss Reilly. Oh, I should be saying Mrs. Anderson? Though it's a little late, congratulations for your marriage and apologies for loss" He gave a mocking nod towards Annie, who looked at him stonily.

"Oh, don't remember me, heh?" Sanchez gave a chuckle as he asked. "That's a shame. Because I remember you specifically, or rather, I remember your husband, Howard Anderson." At this point, Catherine and Cynthia forgot about their rescue attempt as they listened to the conversation. Annie and Sanchez must have known each other in the past, considering that he knew her maiden name and Howard. He definitely looked old enough to have known the two of them. But what was their connection?

"Then again I'm not surprised. After all" He paused for a moment before talking again, this time with a tone of distaste in his mouth. "It was your husband that stopped me from making you 'Number 24' in the first place."

Everyone in the room gasped loudly at his words. Even the other soldiers and Damon momentarily forgot their mutual dislike to stare at him. Cynthia nearly dropped the shard of glass in shock of hearing that Annie was supposed to be the next target.

"Ah, so he didn't tell you then?" Sanchez gave a smirk as he began recounting his experience with relish. "Well as you probably know, I was arrested in California while trying to escape. I believe you were in Los Angeles having a vacation around that time right? What most people did not know was me going after Howard. He was trying to catch a charter flight out from San Francisco in order to get to you. So I decided to tag along for the ride."

"He did not know back then, but I have been keeping an eye on you for quite a while. You see, I prefer to keep tabs on all my potential targets. Then depending on where I go, I would pay a visit to them. But for you, ah! You are different; you have class and the beauty."

"Ah yes! I remember when I first laid eyes on you. You were just the right type for me. Your body was ripe and begging for my hands to be soaked in your blood. I wanted to hear your screams when I take you apart." There was a decidedly maniac glint in his eyes as he described what he had planned back then, and the tone sent shivers down Catherine's spine.

"Sadly it was not to be. You see, the news station was already showcasing some of my deeds, and the plane we were on hit some turbulence, causing much of our luggage to spill out, and lo behold! My bag got dislodged and fell on the ground, spilling out my notes and my photos of you. He only needed to take one look at them and my shot to realize who I am and my next target."

"I was careless, that much I admit. I was honestly astounded by the extreme foolishness and hardheadedness Howard displayed in his attempts to stop me. I will give him this: he was a particularly determined person to stop. It was because of him the pilot went to land in California, and I had to go steal a ride to get away from the local authorities. But even then it was not enough; I ended up getting caught and sent to the maximum prison." Sanchez's face twisted into a very murderous expression that made those bounded to try and crawl away, while the soldiers took a few steps back while clutching their weapons tightly.

"Truth be told, when I was told that you became one of the council members for the IS Committee, I was very surprised. I did not believe that so much had changed during my time in prison. So you can understand my reaction when I heard that you were on board, to think I get a second chance to get you as my next target."

"And now here we are again, only this time you are on the plane with _me_, and Howard is not around to stop me!"

With that, he took one step and reached out to grab Annie. But before he could get his hands on her, a blur went between them. Before anyone could react, Cynthia opened her mouth wide and bit hard on the hand.

"GAHH! LET GO!" Sanchez yelled as he swung his arm at the table, making Cynthia's head take the full brunt of the hit from the table's edge. Cynthia let out a groan as she slumped onto the floor, a trickle of blood going down her face and starting to make a small pool on the floor.

"Cynthia!" Catherine attempted to get up, momentarily forgetting that she was still bounded, resulting in her crashing to the ground hard. _'Crap! I need to move!'_

"How did she get out of her bounds?" Chris moved to Cynthia and moved her slightly to check her hands and legs. "Damn it, she must have cut them off with something. At least only her legs were freed and not her hands. We just need to get more rope and…"

"Wait!" Damon turned to see Sanchez with a rather scary looking smile. There was an unusual serenity in the way he was smiling despite having a bleeding hand that was turning red by the minute. There was a glint that reminded one of a wolf who has found some prey as he turned to Annie once again.

"My my, you are very fortunate to have another taking a hit for you, Mrs. Anderson. So why not this then? I will use her to practice what I intend to do on you later." Using his other hand, he grabbed Cynthia by the collar and dragged her up, before forcefully moving her to the door.

"Wait a minute, Sanchez! You don't just…" Damon started to talk, only to falter when Sanchez turned with a smirk on his face. "Oh of course, how about this then?" Turning to the other hostages, he said: "You might want to tell Damon here what he wants, then perhaps I might bring her back in a more" He paused to find a word. "**_Recognizable_** state."

With that, he opened the door and shoved Cynthia through before closing it, pausing for a moment to see the expressions on everyone's faces before shutting it completely.

* * *

Annie cursed as she attempted once again to try and loosen her bonds. It wasn't her fault, but the fact that the guy was aiming at her all this time, only to take Cynthia away, was something that was gnawing at her inside like a persistent worm.

To say she was shocked about the news given was an understatement. Howard never once mentioned this incident to her, and certainly the idea of being a target by that man was rather disturbing. Then again, that may be why Howard did not say anything at all.

At the corner of her vision, she could see the soldiers discussing about the situation before one of them took out the radio and walked out of the room, presumably to call Fenix. Annie barely registered the action, she was focusing her attention to Villian, who was quietly sobbing with Catherine and the other sisters trying to calm her down.

It was probably a little too much for the gentle girl; being the shy and quiet one, there were not a lot of people who could interact with her. Cynthia was perhaps the first one to have broken through her personality and encouraged her to be more outgoing. Having been together for so long, it was probably a very traumatizing idea of Cynthia getting killed or subjected to something worse by Sanchez.

"Don't worry Villian, Cynthia can take care of herself. There's no way she would be going down without a fight." Carissa tried to calm Villian down, though her expression was not helping the situation.

"B-But." Villian sobbed as she tried to speak properly. "She got hit in the head, and she is bleeding so much…"

"She should be fine, considering her attitude." Catherine said in a calm tone to reassure Villian. "And besides," she twisted her body, to show broken strands of rope on the ground. "She has a better chance to fight him than any of us right now."

* * *

"Time check!" Ellen called out from the corner she was in.

"We have 10 more minutes before that guy calls back for an answer." The operator called as she stepped out of the cockpit. "But we better assume we get 5 minutes to be on safe side people!"

Ichika barely gave a nod as he continued to monitor his systems. He and the others made it back to their plane where they were checking their systems for any problems that could have resulted from the earlier attack. Fortunately, it seemed that his earlier manual rebooting helped to take care of the problem, and with the help of system copy he had, he was able to get his unit up and running again. He sighed as he double checked that his suit was recharging, before turning his attention to the others.

To say this operation was frustrating did not suit the mood the slightest. Houki and the rest were looking very grim, and as for the senior pilots, they were looking downright furious, since some of the affected pilots were their friends who were currently seeking treatment for electrical shocking. Another issue was the affected IS units; despite the attempts made by their mechanics who came along, they were baffled at how the units seemed to be stuck in the state that could only be described as 'rust-bucket'.

At least this much was clear. The enemy had some sort of equipment that sent out a Disruption Wave that could interfere the inner workings of the IS. Also it seemed that distance would have an effect; since he and the others were the furthest from the plane, they experienced a system breakdown, while the ones closest to the plane, mainly the ambush group, ended up with their units locked down completely.

Because of this, Ellen gave the order for everyone to fall back to a distance of at least 320 feet from the plane when they approach it later, in order to ensure they have each other to cover. And it was also decided to have one of the military aircrafts to try and get close in order to get the soldiers on board. It would be risky, but it was the best shot they got.

"Okay everyone, saddle up! We are going out again!" Ellen's voice brought him back to reality. He turned in time to see Ellen activating her unit and heading to the hatch door. Ichika disconnected his unit and started it up, wondering as he made his way with the others.

_'Would the enemy have any more surprises for them?'_

_'Is there anyone else out there they could turn for help?'_

* * *

**_[Mission Update]_**

**_[Currently En-route towards plane, 10 minutes to destination]_**

**_[Present Status: Level 3]_**

**_[Surveillance sensors indicate high levels of Unknown Disruption Wave. Surrounding IS Units displayed irregular behavior in response to it. Several units had been seen locked down and exhibited unusual rusting on their armor.]_**

**_[Observations suggest that unknown equipment used by terrorists has ability to forcefully disrupt and shut down IS units, after which said units would be reset and stuck in a 'rusted' state, possibly for a few hours.] _**

**_[Based on findings, threat level to IRON is minimal.]_**

**_[Response to situation: Increase threat level to Level 4. Pilot and units are to proceed with extreme caution.]_**

**_[Jetstream and Dual will proceed to destination first, followed shortly by pilot and Mark 23. In anticipation of aerial assault, safety seals have been removed.]_**

**_[All units are hereby allowed to use necessary force to take down terrorists, whatever it takes.] _**

* * *

**=====Author's Notes=====**

Ok, now we are entering the 'Rescue Arc' I suppose, so this will take awhile.

At first, this chapter was a lot longer, but after going through and getting someone to look at it, we both thought we were rushing into the action, so I have to split it. So be warned: this arc may end up being 4/5 chapters long till the next arc.

On another note, can you guys spot the few movie references? There are a few 'Shout Out' moments. (Damn you TV Tropes for being so addictive!)

In case you guys are wondering, for Ellen and her IS frame, my idea came from the LN "Date-a-Live", the AST unit. Also, as you probably might guess, the idea for **my** units are a combination of Iron Man and Gundam. I have yet to finalize the idea in my head, but I should be able to get it out by the next chapter.

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and I get a new chapter out soon!


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:**

**Hey guys, here's the new chapter for Iron Stratos.**

**Still trying to get a job, so it's getting a little hectic at my side. T.T**

**I like to thank "Blackops" for the Iron Man references, it really helped me out a lot. Maybe I can work your username into my story somewhere…**

**Also, some of you were wondering about the base that "Raptor" supposedly took down, I will tell you that I would be explaining that part after the Rescue Arc, so be patient with me.**

**Without further ado, let's start the chapter!**

* * *

**=Chapter Start=**

Part 1

"What did you just say, Carl?" Fenix's eyebrows were twitching madly as he glared at the radio, as though he could change the content of the message by looking at it. "Sanchez did WHAT?!"

"Sanchez is doing his stupid thing again." Carl's voice blared through the radio with a notable tone of resignation and irritation. "It seems that Sanchez was attempting to attack one of the hostages when one of the female security guards bit his hand. So he's going to start with her apparently."

Fenix closed his eyes and tried to let the irritation out in a sigh. Judging from the number of swear words that were flooding his brain at the moment, it was not very effective.

"Please tell me you guys are keeping an eye on him." Fenix massaged his forehead a little harder than normal, the pounding seemingly getting a little harder to get rid of.

"I am currently following him right now, Chris and Dickson are still with the passengers." Carl replied back. "Thing is, it seemed that he knew one of the passengers personally, Anita Anderson."

Fenix arched an eyebrow as he sifted through the information in his head. He recalled Anita's profile and thought that may explain a little about Sanchez's choice of attacking. He had to admit, she had a really terrific figure for a mother in her 40s. "I see."

"Yeah, turns out she was supposedly his next target, but her husband stop him from doing so back then. He was actually the guy who got Sanchez" Carl snorted through the radio. "Don't mind me saying, but if that guy were alive, I would shake his hand gratefully".

Fenix could only nod in agreement. When it came down to it, no one really wanted Sanchez at all. And the fact that it was Anita's husband who managed to stop that maniac, now that was something worth giving a medal to.

Fenix sighed as he looked out of the window. He could see the small groups of pilots gathering at the far end of the plane. Guess that earlier demonstration worked quite well; they were trying to be as far from the plane as possible, thinking under the assumption that the increased distance would reduce the effect.

Well, they may be right on the effect reducing by distance, but they are wrong about the safety limit. They would need to be a lot further if they wanted to escape. Looks like the next demonstration would be in play. But as for the immediate problem with Sanchez…

"Okay then, Carl. Go after Sanchez, make sure he does not harm the hostage." Fenix gave the order before heading outside to call the guard to change places. He already gave his word that the hostages were to be safe, and he was so not going to let Sanchez break that word if he could help it.

* * *

_'Okay, this is going to be a problem.'_ Cynthia thought lamely in her head.

Currently, she was being forcefully led down the corridor with Sanchez keeping a tight hold on her hands. It was hard enough to move as it is, but with him being particularly close, it was all Cynthia could take to stop herself from shivering every time she felt his breath on her neck. Judging from the smirk she caught as he steered her to a corner, he knew the effect he had on her and was enjoying every minute of it. She still had her equipment, but it was still in

At the very least, she managed to ensure Annie did not become Sanchez's next victim immediately. She could not do much currently, but Cynthia could count on Catherine to get them out of the current situation.

Cynthia blinked to get the blood out of her eyes; that earlier hit made her a little groggy due to the loss of blood. It was not life threatening, but in the present situation, she did not want to leave things to chance. Currently she was trying to slow down her breathing in order to better regulate the blood going through her system, but that was proving difficult with Sanchez pushing her at certain corners.

Quite honestly, she was still trying to wrap her head around this entire situation, what with hijacking, the equipment not working, Annie being Sanchez's target, and now the fact that she herself was about to become his next target before her.

She really needed a proper vacation when this was all over.

"Watch your head then." She barely registered those words when her head hit the metallic door frame, earning her a curse and a few stars in her vision. Before she could react to the pain, she got twisted around and shoved, landing on a very hard and uneven surface. She shook her head to try and rid of the stars surrounding her vision while trying to see where she was. Judging from all the luggage that was around her, she was in the cargo hold, and most likely she was lying on some suitcases.

"Now then my dear, where were we again?" Sanchez leered as he directed his attention to her. Cynthia could only cringed in shame as she realized the state she was in; she was lying on a couple of large suitcases laid on their sides, with her suit lifted to show a tantalizing view of her belly, and her buttons undone at the top to show her cleavage.

Now Cynthia was regretting not listening to Catherine's advice and just tided herself up.

"When I'm done with you, I will be known as Diablo 24" Sanchez sneered at her as he slowly drew his knife from his belt sheath and angled it such that Cynthia could see the light glinting from the edge.

Cynthia could see her own terrified reflection in the steel.

Cynthia shut her eyes while trying to control her heartbeat. But when she opened them again, it was to the sight of Sanchez now leaning over her with the knife's edge being extremely close to her face. His other hand held a firm grip on her hear while positioning himself such that her legs were pinned under him.

"Let me tell you something, my dear." Sanchez moved the tip of the knife just so it was barely touching Cynthia's cheek. "This is the same knife I was planning to use on Anita Anderson to commemorate my freedom from prison, so be honored you will be the first one to get a taste of it."

With that statement, Cynthia's fear got taken over by the hatred that was boiling over inside of her. _There was absolutely no way she was going to let this guy get Annie in any way!_

With another maniacal glint in his eyes, Sanchez moved the knife slowly to her exposed belly and pressed its flat side gently on it, making Cynthia shiver uncontrollably at the promise of cold steel in her flesh. Then, turning the edge towards her, he began to saw through the fabric upwards, slowing reaching to the chest region. Cynthia could only glare at him with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Sanchez, stop that!" A sudden shout made Sanchez stop his movements and an annoyed expression replacing the look of lustful anticipation on his face. From her position, Cynthia could barely see a soldier raising his weapon at Sanchez.

"Tch! So Fenix sent you?" Sanchez scowled as he turned to face the soldier, who was looking very angry at him. The scowl on the soldier's face went deeper when he saw the state Cynthia was in with her blood and her torn clothes.

"We have given our word to the pilots that we would not harm any one of them. So if you don't mind, I would say you let her go now." The soldier grasped his firearm tightly and aimed it such that he could shoot Sanchez if he attempted any sudden moves. "Oh come on Carl, lighten up, why don't you?" Sanchez sarcastically waved his hands while rolling his eyes.

"It's not just that, Sanchez." Carl narrowed his eyes further. "You know damn well we are not to come here at all during this operation, where **'it'** is. Are you so brain-dead that you can't even register that order in your head?!"

"I don't really care about what Fenix, Gregor or anyone says for that matter." Sanchez dropped his act to give a glare at Carl. "I only agreed to follow along so that I could get out of that joint. So you guys can take that plan and shove it up your…!"

Whatever he was about to say, no one would know as Cynthia suddenly grabbed the bar hanging above her and kicked with her full strength at Sanchez's back, sending him tumbling into Carl, before she turned around and made her way among the different stacks of suitcases lying around, disappearing shortly.

Sanchez was not idle from that attack though; before Carl could react, Sanchez pushed him further back to the doorway and slammed it shut, before shoving some of the big suitcases against it so that Carl can't open the door.

"Oh so you want to play hide and seek now heh?" Sanchez cooed as he gaze around the cargo bay. "That's fine with me, after all" he gripped his knife tightly. "It's not much fun unless my prey puts up a fight."

* * *

"Damn it!" Cynthia cursed her luck as she continued huddling behind the suitcases. She was thankful that she managed to remove enough of her bounds to get her hands free on time. Oddly enough though, the person who checked her bounds earlier should have known that her bounds were loose enough to get her hands out. Privately she wondered if the guard purposely overlooked it in order for her to get away from Sanchez. She would worry about it later.

In any case, it was a combination of that and Carl interrupting Sanchez that she was finally able to remove the bonds on her wrists and get a jump on them. Now as she peeked out from her corner, she quickly thought through of different ways of getting through this situation. Something she was not looking too pleased about.

Firstly, her equipment was still in lock-down mode, so she can't use even the smallest weapon without getting shocked from the feedback. Secondly, Sanchez was clearly better at hand to hand combat than her, and considering her current state, she was in no condition to take him on properly. What she needed was an edge! What she needed was…

Her eyes fell on the circuit board that was located at the far end of the cargo bay and traced the cabling to the hatch door, before looking the other way to where a red lever was situated near the cargo door. If she recalled correctly, most of the current plane models require a secondary control at the cargo area just in case the main controls at the cockpit do not work, and an emergency lever to override the circuits.

_'That might just work.'_ Cynthia thought as a plan slowly took shape in her mind. Maybe she could try to break the circuit, or at least threaten, in order to get away from that guy.

But if taking out the circuit meant opening the hatch door…

It was a risk, to say the least. One major issue about her equipment was that it was meant for ground protection, so there was nothing meant for aerial combat, meaning no gyroscope or floatation devices to help. Not that would help in the current situation; from what she had gathered, it seemed that the jamming equipment was in this cargo hold. So even if she wanted to, she probably won't be able to use it at all.

Further thoughts were interrupted when the suitcase behind her got shoved violently. She barely moved out of the way in time for the luggage to fall to the ground, then she saw the distorted face that looked at her hungrily.

"There you are, poppet!" Sanchez yelled as he raised his knife to stab her again. Cynthia cursed again as she dived to the ground, barely dodging the knife that hit the wall loudly. Cynthia continued to stumble while evading Sanchez's attacks, which seemed deliberate in their attempts to just miss hitting her vitals and seemed more to cut her clothes lightly. One final evasion and she slammed against the wall with a loud grunt, twisting her body gently to keep an eye on Sanchez.

"Nowhere to run now, little poppet." Sanchez twirled his knife as he studied her closely. Her clothes were now in tethers, her white inner-shirt barely protecting her modesty and her suit was almost torn completely at the right sleeve, her pants also having tears from her earlier near-misses.

"Come on, make it more interesting for me." Sanchez gripped his knife reversed edge and raised it above him. Cynthia panted while shifting her weight a little. _'Just a little more…'_

"Say good night, little poppet!" Sanchez brought the blade down in a wide arc towards Cynthia, who barely moved to the side in time to evade it…

… And thus letting Sanchez embed the knife deep into the circuit board behind her.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Sanchez's pained screams filled the cabin as the deadly voltage surged through his body, making him spasm uncontrollably as he attempted to release his grip from the embedded knife. A few seconds later, the circuit board gave out a few more sparks before letting out a small explosion, sending Sanchez flying against the opposite wall.

Cynthia's moment of relief got cut off by the sound of alarms blaring and the blinking red lights. The difference in volume was all the indication that she needed to grab onto the nearest railing bolted to the side before the hatch door started opening slowly, the difference in air pressure forcing some of the smaller bags to squeeze through the gap.

A yell made Cynthia turn her head, in time to see Sanchez clutching vainly at the ground as the hatch door opened wider, letting out more air from the room. Sanchez grabbed the handle that was closest to the door and glared at Cynthia one last time.

"DAMN YOU BIT..!" Sanchez's scream got cut short as his grip finally lost out to the extreme forces of vacuum and he got flung out of the jet. Cynthia did not give it much thought as she clung on to the railing for dear life, her diminishing strength and numbing pain threatening to make her release her grip.

"Come On! Just a little longer!" Cynthia wrapped one of her arms around the railing and tried to use her other hand to grab the manual lever. But then, in a twist of bad luck, the railing she was hanging on to started to buckle under the strain of her weight and the suction of the high pressure. Then just as she was able to touch the lever with her fingertips, the entire railing broke at one end of the hinge.

"OH SHHIIIITTT!" Cynthia yelled as the railing finally lost out to the vacuum effect, and she got flung out of the plane and into the open sky.

* * *

Ichika sighed heavily as he hovered in the air with Houki and the others. This situation was so not going to be resolved anytime soon.

It was going past noon when they flew out of their escort plane and back into the open air, where Ellen communicated with the mysterious voice again regarding the release of some of the prisoners. They remained close to their respective escort planes while maintaining a distance of 320 feet from the jet in order to avoid the same incident again.

They only had limited success regarding the release of the prisoners asked by the terrorists; as Ellen put it subtly, "some of these men have rep-sheets that would make Hitler proud." A couple of the governments involved were strictly opposed to releasing 3 of the prisoners asked, as apparently they were the types who could bring entire nations to their knees if let out.

That went both ways for the situation. On the one hand, the speaker seemed understandable that they won't be able to get all the prisoners out; on the other hand, they only have another 10 minutes to release the remainder, in addition to a new requirement added: the return of the soldiers from Iraq.

_'Honestly'_ Ichika let out another sigh, _'This is going to be majorly impossible to complete!'_

"Getting tired, Ichika-san?" Ichika lifted his head to see Ellen's smiling face up close. Without him noticing, she managed to sneak up on him and get real close to him. A little too close for his comfort, considering her position that made it somewhat erotic and the armor that emphasized her figure.

"Erm, a little bit, Ellen-san." Ichika twisted his head to hide the blush he was having while boosting backwards to gain some distance. He quickly thought of something to distract his mind. "I'm just not used to these types of hostage situations at all."

"Ah, that's understandable." Ellen nodded as she straightened herself up. "If I recall correctly, you only just started using an IS for a few months now, and you are not considered a true representative cadet like the rest, so you are not exactly entailed to many of the duties that are expected of pilots and those related to the governments."

Those words made Ichika remember what the speaker had said earlier about the supposed dealings their governments did in the dark, and more specifically, the part where the speaker said Ichika should prepare himself for what's to come.

Does that mean he had to prepare himself to handle some of the more shady deals the Japanese government would give him in the future? He remembered he was kidnapped as a kid and that in exchange for his rescue, Chifuyu had to go Germany for a year or so to train the cadets to pilot IS. He also suspected that he was currently in IS Academy so that Chifuyu could keep an eye on him safely.

Some of his thoughts must have translated onto his face, because Cecilia came up, does her 'ojou' impression and said, "You should not think about what that person said. I know my government never makes any backdoor deals that would discredit us at all!"

"At least, none that I know of" Cecilia added in a soft mutter through the intercom for Ichika to hear. He smiled at the attempt that Cecilia tried to cheer him up. "Thanks Cecilia, I needed that."

"Hmph! O.. Of Course! We can't have you down on this situation!" Cecilia stammered while blushing lightly. _'Is she having a fever? The sun is rather strong right now.'_

"So then, as a gentleman, you must repay my kindness with some service. Maybe later we could go to my room and …" Whatever Cecilia had planned, she got interrupted by a very loud voice.

"Wait a second there, Cecilia! Don't you dare get ahead of us?!" Rin exclaimed as she came up to them, followed shortly by Houki, Charlotte and Laura. "You better not be trying to pull a fast one on us!"

"That's right, you do not go and jump the queue!" Houki said as Charlotte and Laura nodded. "If anything, I as his childhood friend gets repaid for his kindness!" That line got the attention of the other teams who were waiting around, and started to converge to see the commotion.

"Hey, if it's childhood friends you are after, then I'm the one who should be getting it first!" Rin glared at Houki as she said that.

"He's my wife, so none of you get to claim him!" Laura crossed her arms as she claimed that, earning her yet again another set of odd looks from the other teams that were near.

"Erm, maybe we should not be doing this now." Charlotte tried to diffuse the situation, but only succeeded in making herself a target by the others. "Don't act innocent, you of all are perhaps the most dangerous one of the lot!" Rin said while the others nodded their agreement.

"Kyu!" Charlotte let out a cute sound while cringing at the opposition.

"Oh my, you really are popular" Ellen put up a hand to vainly attempt hiding a teasing smile as she watched the girls argue among themselves with Ichika looking very dejected. "Must be pretty hectic back at the academy huh?" Now she was downright smirking with her team-mates giggling at the situation. Ichika could only hang his head in embarrassment at the sight of the 5 girls arguing while remembering the craziness that the girls in the academy seemed to possesses whenever he passes them. It's not like he's not grateful of them trying to cheer him up and everything, but what was with them always arguing around him?!

Honestly, what was with the girls around him?

"Something is happening at the plane!" That line interrupted the small comedy that was unfolding in front of them. Ichika turned in time to see the door leading to the cargo area starting to open, with small cases spewing out from its end.

"Did they open the cargo bay for some reason?" Ichika asked Ellen, who was looking at the plane intently. "I'm not too sure, for that matter why would they need to do so?" Ellen replied back while narrowing her eyes further.

"GUYS!" A pilot shouted while pointing. Ichika zoomed in further in time to see a body being shot out from the door. Before anyone could react, a second figure appeared out of the door and started plummeting to the ocean. Ichika zoomed in further before realizing that it was a female that got shot out this time, the first being a male where some of the closer pilots were attempting to keep up.

**_'Crap! Somebody save her?!' _**Ichika thought as he immediately activated Ignition Boost to catch up with her, ignoring the cries of Houki and the others. It was risky, considering no one knew how far or how strong the signal could affect IS units, but if he could just reach her on time…

As if to reply back to his desperate call for help, a loud sonic boom reverberated in the wide open area.

* * *

"Miss Orimura!" An operator called out to Chifuyu in a strained voice. "I'm getting some weird readings here! I think we got bogeys incoming!"

_'Oh Great, just what we needed: more crap!'_ Chifuyu thought grimly as she walked to the operator's table. Currently she was in the communications room again with a few extra personnel and helpers from other companies to help with the situation. She had managed to keep a handle on the situation, though things were getting intense due to some unknown element introduced by the terrorists in the form of some Disruption Wave that targeted the IS units, making some of them reset to default settings and unusable for possibly the entirety of the mission.

"Can you tell who they are?" Chifuyu asked while placing a hand on the table to shift the screen to her side.

"I'm..." The operator hesitated as she typed a few more commands into the system. "I'm not quite sure what they are. They are way too small to be aircraft, and they are not giving off the same type of signatures that can be associated with any of the current military equipment or IS Units. Furthermore, the signals tend to disappear every few seconds, so I cannot be too sure. What I can say is that there are currently 3 of these signatures and they are moving straight for the plane at high speeds, nearly Mach 7!"

Chifuyu frowned at that information she was digesting. '_Something that cannot be detected properly and moving at Mach 7? What type of thing would be able to do that?_' Chifuyu's thoughts came to a halt as she finished processing the information. All the details she had learned for the past few days added up to one thing.

"Get one of the spare surveillance cameras and widen the scope range!" Chifuyu quickly gave orders to a nearby table where other operators were working. "Focus on the general area where those three signals are approaching. The last thing we need is to have any party crashers coming for the ride." The operators set about to dedicating one of the screens for the satellite feed, eventually displaying the area where the signals were supposed originating. Chifuyu prayed that she was wrong about her idea as the image started to get more focused. The last thing she needed was...

"Miss Orimura, something is happening at the plane!" One of the few male operators for the operation called out to her as he called up the image to the main screen, just in time for Chifuyu to see the cargo door open slowly, the different luggage spewing out from the door due to the sudden vacuum effect. As they continued watching, a male body suddenly appeared from the back-end of the plane, followed shortly by a second body, this time a female. Chifuyu cursed at the timing of this situation as she watched some of the pilots dive for the girl.

_What else could go wrong?!_

"There!" One of the other operators pointed to the smaller screen after the image cleared. Chifuyu turned to the screen to see the source of the signals. What she saw made everyone take a few steps back from the look of the scowl that was forming on her face. Only one word could summarize the situation she was facing and feeling at that point.

"Fuck."

* * *

_'Great, so I guess this is it for me, huh?'_ Cynthia thought in a deadpan tone as she plummeted through the clouds towards the ocean surface. _'Well, at the least I managed to buy some time for those pilots to get to the jet.'_ She mentally gave a sigh as she noted the distance shortening with each passing second. She was remarkably calm considering she was plunging to her death.

_'Too bad, I was hoping to get a boyfriend or at the least, help Catherine get one. She definitely needs a boyfriend to settle down.'_ Cynthia gave a chuckle at that thought. Here she was falling at nearly 150mph to her death, and she was thinking that she could not tease Catherine of getting a boyfriend.

"Boom!"

Her musings got interrupted by the loud sounds of a sonic boom that could be heard from her side. Before she could react, she heard the sounds of a jet heading for her. She twisted her head in time to see her wrists grabbed by metal clamps, before metal platings start covering her arms and torso.

"What the!" was all the words Cynthia could shout before her vision went dark.

* * *

Ichika was not sure what had just transpired.

For a moment he was trying to accelerate in order to catch up with the falling woman, then he suddenly heard a sonic boom that came from behind. Next thing he knew, two blurs flew past him, followed by a gust of wind that knocked him hard at the side and sent him tumbling about. As he regained his bearings, he zoomed in on the the objects that flew past him, just in time to see one of them taking a nose dive towards the falling body.

Ichika gasped as the human like object reached the woman before going spread-eagle on top of her. A small cloud briefly blocked his vision, but it cleared in time to see the machine doing a somersault and blasting its thrusters downwards, thrusting itself upwards until it reached his height before stopping, and started hovering while it turned to look at him.

Ichika took a while staring at the machine that was staring back at him. He was not sure of what it was, but he was certain of one thing: that was not a typical IS frame. The machine was completely armored in smooth red platings with a gold chest plate and golden stripes on its arms. Its head was basically a red faceplate with golden head antennas and eyes that were glowing bright green. The biggest deviation came from the legs; compared to the unit's lean frame, the legs had huge thrusters attached to it, giving it a somewhat unbalanced look. In the center of the chestplate was a big circular object that was glowing very brightly which could be seen even at the position he was at.

"Ichika, are you okay?!" Houki's voice blared through the intercom, breaking his thoughts. He completely forgot that he was in the middle of a hostage mission, and that the others were near him. Even now he could see the others closing in on his position. He looked quickly around the area to try and spot the falling body, but he could not find her.

"I'm okay, there's no problem." Ichika answered back while watching the machine, which seemed to be content with just watching him while hovering closer to him. He noted the white particles that were issuing out from small vents in the leg thrusters and how they were surrounding him and the machine. It would seem that the machine was keeping an eye on him to ensure he did not pull off anything that could be seen as an attack.

"I see." Houki paused before continuing her questions. "But what about the people that flew out of the plane, and who is the one piloting that weird unit?" On his screen, he could see that Houki being the closest was now able to see the machine in the distance.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Ichika could only reply lamely. To further his confusion, the machine tilted its head to the side, as if to ask what the problem was. "But I guess someone on our side, to say the least. As for the people…"

Ichika suddenly heard a "Ping!" and checked his system, to find a blinking icon of an unread message. "Wait a minute, I'm getting a message of some sort." Ichika opened the message and stared. It was a very short message but to the point.

**_[M17: Hostage saved. Resume operation of taking back jet and subduing terrorists, Orimura Ichika.]_**

"Wait, I did not see you grab her! I need proof! And for that matter how about the other one?!" Ichika did not mean to say that out loud, but the appearance of the unit and the suddenness of the events were throwing his logic out of the window. In response of his statement, the faceplate of the unit split between the mouth piece and the eye region and, with a hissing sound, opened to reveal a woman's face. That expression on her face suggested that she did not take the high altitudes and the sudden turn of events rather well; she looked ready to pass out any minute. Apart from that, she was safe.

**_[M17: Does that answer your question?]_** The machine replied with another message as the faceplate went back to its original state. Ichika could only nod to show his acknowledgment. Another "Ping!" prompted him to open another message.

**_[M17: As for the other one, that is one of the terrorists who had taken over the plane. Chances of survival are minimal, virtually zero.]_** That left a knot in Ichika's stomach, but further thoughts got interrupted by one last message.

**_ [M17: If nothing else, I will be seeing you later.]_** With that, the unit turned around and directed its thrusters backwards, and with a resounding burst of sound, flew towards the direction where the jet was. Ichika just continued hovering there, waiting for the others to get to his position, while thinking of one thing:

_'What the hell is going on here?'_

* * *

Part 2

_"What the hell just happened down there?!"_ Fenix yelled into the radio, ignoring the pilot wincing from the loud shout from his side. He was on his way back to the cockpit to ensure the plane took the course he had designated when he felt the plane lurched suddenly. All thoughts ranging from air turbulence to getting attacked went through his mind when the alarms on the plane started ringing one after the other. When he made his way to the cockpit where the pilot nervously told him that the cargo hatch was opening, his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. That was where they had stored Corruption Overload before they took over the plane!

"Sanchez, that's what happened!" The person on the other side of the radio yelled, his voice barely audible with the sound of wind in the background. "He went to bring that guard to the cargo bay to do that sick hobby of his, and somehow or another he managed to blow out the circuit board leading to the hatch door!"

Fenix swore loudly in the cabin. Of all the times and places for Sanchez to do his damn crap, he had to do it now, in the cargo room where the jammer was! If he was not so pissed, he would have to consider going for the bloody lottery!

"At least tell me that the jammer is safe, Carl?!" Fenix gripped his radio tightly as he asked that question. "I don't know! I can't even get through the door without getting sucked out!" Carl yelled through the radio. "I'm going to try and get to the manual switch!" Fenix cursed even louder as he contemplated the situation.

What else could go wrong at this rate?!

"Fenix, this is Benson! Do you copy?" Another voice blared through the radio as he was thinking of options. "What is it?" Fenix replied while barely restraining his anger.

"I'm picking up something on visual! Think you may have a few bogeys coming up to your tail!" Benson answered in a strained tone. "Thing is, I don't think they are IS pilots!"

"What do you mean by that?" Fenix's anger got momentarily stifled by the anxiety that was displayed in Benson's voice. There was already the issue about the plane slowing down from the open hatch, and the possible loss of the jammer. Last thing he needed was more trouble heading his way.

"Exactly that! I was scouting the area, making sure those pilots don't get anywhere near you when 3 objects flew past me. I'm currently in pursuit, but they are really moving! They are doing Mach 7, dang it!"

"The fuck!" Fenix looked at the radio as though it had a mouth saying the weirdest thing of them all. What type of machine goes around doing Mach 7? Not even the current IS units are able to reach that type of speeds; due to the extreme G forces, the IS units were designed to go at most Mach 3, but most pilots go at Mach 1 to ensure they don't turn into mash.

"You sure about that?" Fenix asked incredulously. "Aye, I'm sure." Benson replied in a deadpan tone. Fenix could only shake his head at the craziness that was descending on him. What next, flying pigs?!

"Carl here, I'm closing the hatch now!" Carl's voice rang through the radio. "There, that should do it! We should be able to..." There was a small pause in the statement that made Fenix tensed for a second. "What's the matter, Carl? Did Sanchez…"

"WHAT THE... AHHHHHHHHHH!" The soldier's scream filled the entire cockpit, making Fenix drop his radio in shock. For a while both the pilot and Fenix stared at the radio on the floor with their faces going pale. Fenix could not tell what could have made Carl scream out like that; Carl was not the type to be afraid of anything. Could he have been sucked out of the plane due to the vacuum effect, or something else happened to hurt him?

"Fenix, what the heck just happened over there?!" Benson's voice came through, a note of panic evident in his words. Fenix quickly got over his initial shock and grabbed the radio. "I'm not sure what happen; Carl just screamed all of a sudden!"

"Oh crap! Don't tell me it was because of that!" Benson replied back. "Because of what?" Fenix asked noting the trepidation in his voice.

"I was trying to call in earlier! One of the bogeys went straight for the plane, and I'm currently engaging the second one! I lost the third one!" Benson's words made his heart drop again. "These are definitely not IS. Call me crazy, but I think we got some robots joining in on the party!"

_'Robots?!'_ Fenix struggled with the idea of machines gate crashing in this situation. How the hell can robots get into this mess?! It's not like some mysterious units…

Fenix paused as he backtracked a little. _Mysterious units, capable of doing Mach 7, and just popping up from nowhere to crash into the hostage situation?_

**Oh crap.**

"All troops be on the lookout for anyone or anything suspicious! We cannot depend on the jammer for now!" Fenix gave the order to the others through the radio. "Also, be advanced: there may be a pilot or some machine that had gotten on board the plane, so you have permission to fire at will! And when I say machine, I mean _those_ machines!"

After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Fenix brought the radio back to his mouth. The order he was about to give was one he hoped he did not need to give at all.

"Benson, continue seeking and destroy those units that are still outside. And if the IS pilots try to stop you," he paused before continuing, "You have permission to shoot them down as well."

* * *

"You guys heard that?!" Chris turned to the other soldiers with him, an expression of nervous anxiety apparent on his face. "You stay outside the room, Dickson will come with me to check on Carl at the cargo area."

Catherine winced from the sound of feet stomping and the door crashing in their frenzy of searching the plane. It seemed that the situation has taken an unusual twist.

Catherine was still trying to remove her bounds quietly while listening in on the soldiers' conversation when the plane suddenly shuddered violently. Confusion and fear spread when the alarms started ringing in the rooms. After a while, the alarms stopped in time for the soldiers to get an update from Fenix and the other person called Carl.

Catherine's heart plummeted when she overheard on the radio that the cargo hatch was forced open due to Sanchez attacking Cynthia and hitting the circuit box instead. That meant that there was very little chance of her surviving the fall to the ground unless she held on for dear life. That particular news affected everyone who knew her, but for the three sisters and especially Villian, it was absolutely devastating.

As much as Catherine wanted to mourn for her loss, now was not the time for it. Since the guards went outside, there may be a short amount of time for her to cut through her bonds quickly and help the others a little before they could surprise the guard.

"So how far until you get the bounds off?" Catherine paused in her attempt of cutting the bounds to turn her head, where she noticed Genaro had managed to crawl his way to her side. It seemed like he too understood the severity of the situation; his face was set stonily, but his eyes betrayed his emotions regarding the loss of Cynthia.

"Almost there, sir." Catherine frowned as she struggled with the last few bits of rope. The soldiers did a fantastic job of ensuring no one could get away easily from their bounds; Cynthia was lucky that she could cut through hers easily with the bigger piece of glass. Catherine only had time to hide the smaller piece she had when the soldier came to her area to pick up any loose stray pieces.

"Let's hope those guys don't come back too soon." Genaro turned his head to face the door as he said that. "Well, I almost got my hands free, so a few more seconds should…" Catherine's words were cut short at the sound of a loud scream from the other side of the door.

"AAHHH!" A guy's scream followed by the sounds of shot fired from an automatic were quickly stifled from outside the room. For a moment, everyone held their breath as they listened tentatively. Then softly, Catherine muttered, "What the hell was that…"

"CRAAAANS!"

With that and a loud yell, the soldier guarding the room smashed through the door and sprawled on the ground motionless. Before anyone else could react, heavy metallic stomps could be heard getting closer to where they were. Everyone held their breath as it got closer, then after a few seconds, a foot could be seen followed by an arm grasping the door frame, then the rest of the body came through and stood there, turning its head at them.

Catherine was not sure what to expect, but she was fairly certain this was not what she had in mind.

The unit that was studying them while standing at the entrance could only be described as "Tall"; it was roughly the same height as Genaro, around 6 feet, but the lanky frame gave the impression that it was even taller than him, further exemplified at the fact the head was almost scraping the ceiling with its head antennas. It was completely covered in grayish-white armor platings, with blue stripes at its arms and legs. It had a small shield on its left arm and a beam rifle that was currently being clamped to its back of its waist.

But perhaps the most notable features were the circular object that was glowing at the center of the chest-plate, and the vent on its back that was currently spewing out small amounts of white particles in the room. If there was any doubt of its identity, one thing was certain: this unit had connections with the other units that had appeared in the past.

"Hold it right there!" Everyone turned to see Chris and another soldier barged in through the big hole where the door used to be. Chris looked around and saw the soldier who was sprawled on the ground.

"Shit!" Chris cursed before lifting his gun at the unit. "Let it have it, Dickson!"

"BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"

Everyone winced as the soldiers let loose their ammo on the unit. Despite that, the unit just stood there while letting the rounds ricochet off its armor. It only took action when some of the people screamed as the rounds started to come to their side. It turned around and walked back out of the hole, before raising its right arm towards Chris. There was a small circular object embedded in the center of its hand, which started to glow and emit a sound.

With a "PIIIII... POOM!" Chris got blasted to the wall. The unit did not bother to check as it turned to its left while lifting its left arm towards the second soldier, who paled at the sight of another circle glowing brightly. With another "PIIIII... POOM!" the solider got blasted along the corridor and hitting the open door at the far end. The unit turned again in time to see the earlier soldier starting to get up while clutching his head. The soldier looked up in time to see the unit raising both its arms and aiming the repulsors at him.

"PIIIII..."

"Don't even think about it!" The guy shouted as he grabbed Villian by the collar and dragged her up, wrapping his arm around her neck and putting the gun to her head. "No! Villian!" Annie screamed as she strained against her restraints in vain. "Let go of her, you!" Genaro roared as he attempted to get up properly.

"Shut up all of you!" The soldier yelled at them as he held the struggling girl in its arm. "Drop them now or she gets it!" The soldier pressed the gun onto Villian's head as he glared at the unit.

For a tense moment, the unit continued pointing its repulsors at the soldier who moved Villian in between to ensure he was shielded. Then slowly, the unit lowered its arms while powering down the weapons. Despite that, Catherine got chills going down her spine as the unit continued staring at the soldier; she was not sure of what, but she got the distinct feeling the soldier was going to regret his actions soon.

"Hahhah! That's right, you don't do anything but listen to what I say, got that?!" The soldier said hysterically as he continued to stare at the unit. "Now here's the deal, you will step out of the unit and this girl won't get hurt! Do I make myself..."

"PEEWW!"

The soldier did not get to finish his statement, as he got shot in the head by a small projectile that was launched from a hidden compartment on its shoulders. It was so sudden that the others could see the look of surprise that was on his face as he struck the wall. For a moment, Villian stood unsteadily on her bound legs, before she started fall to one side. Before the others could react, there was a sudden burst of wind and then they saw the unit had reached out to catch Villian before she hit her head on the ground.

"Erm..." Villian stuttered as the unit continued staring at her while holding her. Then slowly, the machine turned her body around before directing its repulsors towards the bonds on her wrists. With a soft "PEW!" the bonds on her wrists dropped to the ground. A second blast removed the bonds on her legs, temporarily making Villian stagger a little due to lack of blood circulation in the legs, but otherwise able to stand properly.

After supporting her to the table, the unit turned and made its way to Catherine's side, where it did the same for her and some of the security guards. As the others stared at it while massaging their limbs, it pointed to the rest that were tied up. The message was clear: they were to untie the rest.

Ignoring the complaints by some still tied up and the soft murmurs of appreciation of those released, it made its way towards the computer system present in the room. It stopped in front of it and twisted its head sideways as if to study the system, before lifting its left arm in front.

"CHI-CHK!"

The others stared as a small compartment on the back of its hand opened to allow an USB attachment to protrude and connect to the drive. With a loud "Beep!" the big screen on the wall flickered to life and started to stream different types of coding and schematics which Catherine recognized to be that of the jet, with a huge progress bar in the center.

After a few seconds, the progress bar filled up and turned to blue, accompanied by a loud "Bing!" to acknowledge its completion. The progress bar then got replaced with a small message.

**_[Hacking complete. ID Confirmed. Readjustments to flight course added. Redirecting plane back to Okinawa Airport.]_**

"Wait a minute!" Catherine continued staring at the machine as one of the occupants recently freed gasped. "Did you just hacked the jet?!"

In response, one of the smaller screens next to the big screen flickered to life, then displayed a simple message.

**_[Yes. Authorities have already been notified of the situation. They should be arriving shortly to the airport as we speak.]_**

Catherine could only gulp as she continued to untie the rest of the passengers. She was grateful for the fact they got help, but seeing how it effectively took down the guards and took over the plane, it still begged the question.

_How would the machine react if it found out that they were going to investigate and possibly capture it in the future?_

* * *

**=====Author's Notes=====**

Here's part 2 of the Rescue Arc! Things are really hitting up now.

In case you guys are wondering, here's the inspiration for the different units:

Mark 12: Dual

Iron Man: Mark 2

Gundam: Dual Gundam from Gundam Seed

Mark 17: JetStream

Iron Man: Film version of Silver Centurion

Gundam: Gundam Astrea and Gadessa's Leg Boosters from Gundam 00

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and I get a new chapter out soon!


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